Photo by clarissa.stark

Despite opposition from the D.C. Attorney General, proponents of a proposed ballot initiative to legalize small amounts of marijuana made their case to the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics this morning.

Last week, D.C. Attorney General Irv Nathan sent a strongly worded letter to the Board of Elections, urging them to reject the ballot initiative, claiming that it “violates federal law.” At this morning’s hearing several public witnesses—including the the ballot initiative’s author, marijuana activist group DCMJ 2014 head Adam Eidinger—testified before the board in favor of the ballot’s initiative. No one showed up to speak in opposition of the legalization initiative.

“If the Board of Elections delays the initiative language approval, we’ll be forced to have a special election, which will cost the D.C. government nearly $1 million dollars,” Eidinger said during the hearing. Speaking against Nathan’s claims that the initiative violates federal law because it “[denies applicants who have been charged with drug offenses from public housing or voucher programs,” Eidinger’s Council, Amanda La Forge, said that it doesn’t because of D.C.’s law requiring leases, which makes the initiative on the right side of the law.

But the hearing quickly devolved from whether or not the initiative can get on the ballot to more of the finer points of the initiative’s language, including questions from the Board regarding concerns about if landlords could more easily evict marijuana-smoking residents and if the amount of plants one can grow for home cultivation is too much. “This ballot initiative is not perfect,” Eidinger said, “but I don’t know any law that’s perfect.”

Although there’s no set time as to when the Board of Elections needs to make their decision as to whether or not the initiative will be on November’s ballot, a spokesperson says it should have a decision in a week.