Norton to Speak at Networking Group of D.C.’s Women Cannabis Entrepreneurs, Tonight

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) will be the featured speaker at a networking meeting hosted by the District of Columbia Chapter of Women Grow, a national professional network supporting female entrepreneurs in the cannabis industry, today, Thursday, August 6, 2015, at 7:00 p.m. at 641 S St. NW, Third Floor. Norton will discuss Initiative 71 and the implications for D.C. medical and recreational cannabis consumers, the future of tax and regulation in D.C., and she will share her thoughts about empowering women in emerging industries like the growing cannabis sector. House Republicans originally claimed they had blocked marijuana legalization in the District entirely with a rider in the fiscal year 2015 Omnibus appropriations bill, but Norton found a flaw in the language and residents have been able to possess small amount of marijuana since February 25, 2015.

"Women Grow is doing a fantastic job supporting women in the burgeoning legal cannabis industry here in the District and across the nation," Norton said. "The four states and the District of Columbia that have legalized recreational use of cannabis, and the 23 states and the District that have legalized medical use of cannabis, are pioneers that need to feed from the experience of one another. We have kept Congress from overturning Initiative 71, but their undemocratic denial of the District's right to regulate cannabis for commercial or other purposes creates a dilemma. Our residents can legally possess cannabis, but except for the small amount they can grow, Congress has forced residents to find the illegal market to purchase it. The resulting invitation to lawlessness is what happens when Congress ventures into territory reserved for local officials alone in our federal republic."