DC mayor introducing bill to legalize recreational marijuana sales

Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) will introduce legislation that would legalize recreational marijuana sales, The Washington Post reported Thursday.

D.C. residents can currently grow and possess small amounts of marijuana, but cannot legally purchase it and the district cannot tax sales because of a federal budget provision.

“We want to be able to regulate, we want to be able to make sure we are collecting our fair share in taxes, we want to invest those taxes in ways that affect communities that have been disproportionately affected, and we want to train and hire D.C. residents,” Bowser said in a Wednesday interview with the Post at a medical marijuana cultivation center.

{mosads}The bill would rename the Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration and task it with licensing and overseeing marijuana businesses, according to a draft of the bill obtained by the newspaper.

D.C.’s eight medical marijuana cultivation centers would be authorized to grow the drug for recreational purposes if Bowser’s bill is approved, the Post noted.

Marijuana businesses would not be concentrated in specific neighborhoods and they would have to have discreet signs, it added. 

“We are not going to be a marijuana destination,” Bowser told the newspaper. “We will not be promoting it. We want D.C. residents to be able to have the choice to buy legally, and we also want to drive out the illegal market, which we know can promote violence in our communities.”

The minimum age to purchase marijuana would be 21.

The bill would crack down on attempts to circumvent restrictions on marijuana sales by offering it as a gift in exchange for purchasing clothing, artwork or other items.

It is not immediately clear whether D.C. officials can change marijuana laws.

Attorney General Karl A. Racine warned the city council in 2015 that holding a hearing on a marijuana legalization bill would violate federal restrictions and place city employees in legal jeopardy.

Bowser told the Post she believes the council can hold hearings and debate how to legalize marijuana, but not until Congress drops anti-marijuana provisions.

“That won’t stop our introduction, and it certainly won’t stop the council’s discussion and action,” she said.