Photo by clarissa.stark

Members of the D.C. Cannabis Campaign met with the D.C. Board of Elections yesterday to decide on a short title and summary statement for their recently approved ballot initiative to legalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana.

D.C. Cannabis Campaign Chairman Adam Eidinger tells DCist that the BOE approved the short title they proposed (“Legalization of Possession of Minimal Amounts of Marijuana for Personal Use Act of 2014”) and approved the summary statement, albeit with some minor text changes. So what’s next for this proposed bill that could bring marijuana legalization to the District?

Well, Eidinger says the proposed ballot initiative is expected to be published in the D.C. Register on Friday, before it enters into a ten day challenge period, wherein any registered voter may challenge the proposed initiative. That’s unlikely to happen as a challenge would entail a lawsuit against the BOE.

Right now, Eidinger is hoping to get the petitions to start collecting signatures at a Board of Elections hearing scheduled for April 15. If they can collect the required 25,000 signatures by July 7, when the petitions are due, the measure would be included on the November ballot.