Skip to main content

Norton Says Harris D.C. Marijuana Amendment Hypocritically Contradicts the Maryland Decriminalization Law that Took Effect Today

October 1, 2014

Washington, D.C. -- Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) said that, with Maryland's marijuana decriminalization law taking effect today, the hypocrisy of Representative Andy Harris' (R-MD) amendment that would block the District of Columbia from decriminalizing marijuana could not be clearer. "The Harris amendment shows that when Harris' own state could not be convinced, he tried autocratic homegrown imperialism, using his undemocratic power over the District, whose residents cannot hold him accountable," Norton said. "Bullying the District to impose his own ideology on a district he does not represent will not be successful. Instead of adhering to his view that the size of the federal government should be reduced, devolving authority to state and local governments, he is taking a radically expansive view of federal power to interfere with the District's local laws and funds."

In July, the House passed the fiscal year 2015 D.C. Appropriations bill, which, under the Harris amendment, prohibits the District from spending its local funds to decriminalize or legalize marijuana. Norton kept the amendment out of the Senate's fiscal year 2015 D.C. Appropriations bill. Since passage of the Harris amendment, Norton has been working with her allies in the Senate and outside Congress to keep the Harris amendment out of the final fiscal year 2015 D.C. Appropriations bill. The Obama Administration has called on Congress to reject the Harris amendment. The Statement of Administration Policy on the House's fiscal year 2015 D.C. Appropriations bill said the administration "strongly opposes" the bill's prohibition on the District spending its own local funds to implement its local marijuana policies because it violates the "principle of States' rights and of District home rule."

The District's marijuana decriminalization law took effect in July. The District Board of Elections has certified an initiative for the November ballot that would legalize marijuana. These proposals are primarily intended to combat racial injustice. A 2013 study by the American Civil Liberties Union of the Nation's Capital found that, in the District of Columbia, where about half the residents are Black, Blacks are eight times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than non-Blacks, and 91% of all those arrested for marijuana are Black.

Twenty-three states have legalized medical marijuana, 18 states have decriminalized marijuana, and two states have legalized marijuana. A February 2014 Pew Research Center poll found that 54% of Americans support marijuana legalization.

Published: October 1, 2014