Via Shutterstock
Update: Tomorrow’s hearing has been moved to Friday at 9:30 a.m.
Ahead of the hearing, Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton has released her written testimony and in it she criticizes Congress, saying that the whole hearing violates Home Rule. “There is nothing that distinguishes the District from the states that have decriminalized marijuana except for the illegitimate power of Congress to overturn the democratically enacted local laws of the District, in contravention of every American principle of local control of local affairs,” her testimony says.
Holmes also criticizes the Republican party for supporting such a hearing, as she feels it’s the opposite of the party’s ongoing support of state’s rights. “Republicans say they support limiting the federal government’s power and devolving that power to states and localities. This hearing does the opposite,” Holmes writes. “This hearing does not practice what Republicans preach, and we do not intend to allow the violation of their own principles at our expense.”
Original post:
A law to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana in D.C.—which was passed by the D.C. Council in a 10-1 vote in March—is headed to Congress tomorrow for an official hearing.
The U.S. House Oversight Committee’s Government Operations subcommittee will hold a hearing tomorrow to review the measure, which was signed by Mayor Vince Gray shortly after it passed Council vote. If 60 days pass without Congress enacting a joint resolution, possessing less than an ounce of marijuana will be a civil offense punishable with a fine of $25. Although the original bill’s language, which was introduced Councilmember Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6), included a provision that would also decriminalize the consumption of marijuana in public, it was ultimately struck down. Still, the new measure would reduce the punishment for smoking pot in public from a $1,000 fine and six months in jail to a $500 fine and 60 days in jail.
The law, which is currently scheduled to go in effect on July 18, will also remove penalties for possessing paraphernalia as well as language stating that an individual cannot be searched or detained solely on an officer’s suspicion.
Tomorrow’s hearing will be divided into two panels, with D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton as the only witness on the first panel. The second panel will include testimonies from Metropolitan Police Department Assistant Chief Peter Newsham, U.S. Park Police Acting Chief Robert MacLean, David O’Neil Acting Assistant Attorney General, Criminal Division, and the ACLU’s D.C. Program Director Seema Sadanandan.
“This one is a no-brainer,” Robert Capecchi, deputy director of state policies for the Marijuana Policy Project, said in a release. “We hope Congress will respect the decision made by the D.C. Council on behalf of its citizens. Voters in the District and around the nation overwhelmingly support the removal of criminal penalties for marijuana possession.”
