L to R: D.C. Cannabis Campaign’s Nikolas Schiller, Adam Eidinger, and Dr. Malik Burnett outside the D.C. Board of Elections. Photo by Matt Cohen.

It’s official: D.C. residents will vote on marijuana legalization this November.

The ballot initiative, submitted by the D.C. Cannabis Campaign, was approved by the D.C. Board of Elections and garnered enough signatures to qualify to be on the November general election ballot. Ballot Initiative 71 proposes allowing adults over the age of 21 to legally possess up to two ounces of marijuana, as well as give (but not sell, as the initiative clearly states) up to one ounce to other adults. Additionally, the ballot initiative allows for the home cultivation of up to three marijuana plants.

As a release from the Cannabis Campaign points out, “District law prevents ballot initiatives from addressing the sale of marijuana. However, the D.C. Council is currently considering a bill—proposed by Councilmember David Grosso (I-At Large)—that will tax and regulate marijuana within the District.” Dr. Malik Burnett—a local organizer with the Drug Policy Alliance—says that the Campaign “[thinks] that the Council should [take] this as an opportunity to provide responsive regulations,” if the ballot initiative should get enough votes to pass.

But if enough D.C. residents vote to pass Initiative 71, does that mean marijuana will automatically be legal? Will the Council need to enact legislation in order for it to actually be legalized? “We’ll have to do a little bit more research on this, but I don’t think that’s true,” Burnett says.

The Cannabis Campaign needed 23,780 signatures in order to get their initiative on the November ballot. On July 7, the Campaign turned in more than 57,000 signatures, 27,688 of which were determined to be valid.

Apart from Grosso, Burnett says they haven’t had any other public support from D.C. Councilmembers, but have had private conversations with some who are “on their team.” Additionally, Burnett says that, while mayoral candidates David Catania and Muriel Bowser haven’t come outright to support their initiative, they have said they “support the will of the people,” when it comes to marijuana policy reform.

D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton said she will defend the ballot initiative against Congressional interlopers, who may attempt to block the measure before or after November.

“We will not let history repeat itself,” Norton said in a release. “Republicans tried to prevent D.C. from voting on an initiative in 1998 to legalize medical marijuana, and after voters approved it, blocked its implementation with an appropriations rider for more than 10 years. We are not surprised that Republicans are threatening to again use the power of the federal government to block the will of the voters of a local jurisdiction. Many Republicans abandon their professed support of local control of local affairs when they have an opportunity to bully the residents of the District, who cannot hold them accountable at the ballot box. We have already begun working with our allies to protect the will of D.C. voters.”

But the hard work isn’t over for the Cannabis Campaign. The Campaign’s Chariman, Adam Eidinger, says that now they’ll focus on trying to register as many voters as they can for the November general election. “We hope to register tens of thousands of voters,” he said.

Additional reporting by Sarah Anne Hughes.