DC Pot

Washington, DC legalized recrational cannabis in the November 2014 election. There is some question if it can go into effect given the rider Republican Andy Harris added to an appropriations bill.

None the less DC is going ahead with legalization by submitting the measure passed by voters to Congress for an up or down vote.

A commenter asked me:

Any chance Dipshit Andy from Maryland can try and stop this?

My response was:

He has to get 216 Congress critters on board with him. The libertarian faction of the Republicans is 49 votes. The Democrats won’t vote for it. And a lot of Republicans would rather it didn’t become an election issue in 2016.

My guess is that the R leadership will not let it come up for a vote for fear of a loss which would weaken the Rs. They know they are losing on the issue and would rather not make that obvious.

Well that is my guess as a Republican oriented voter.

About 1/2 a day later I read this Washington Post article on the subject. Which had (in part) this to say:

D.C. Democrats say they are ready to wager that Republicans will be unwilling to get bogged down in overturning the city’s marijuana law, which 7 in 10 voters supported in last month’s election. Doing so, Republican strategists acknowledge, risks exposing a divide between Republican conservatives and libertarians that could prove consequential to the 2016 presidential race.

So basically my analysis was the same as the WaPo and I hadn’t read it before I gave my opinion. That adds more weight to my opinion.


Posted

in

by

Tags:

Comments

3 responses to “DC Pot”

  1. Randy Avatar
    Randy

    One can only hope that pols in both parties will finally come to their senses on this horrible policy.

  2. Man Mountain Molehill Avatar
    Man Mountain Molehill

    70% is a convincing majority. Do the people of DC rule themselves or what?

    In WA the majority was 56%. We’ve had presidents with smaller majorities. Seems like it’s a popular measure wherever it’s been tried.

    And of course the state delayed implementation for two years. And the retail price is 50% taxes.

  3. […] to take Cannabis Prohibition off the table for the 2016 election. All because of a 49 member Libertarian Republican faction in Congress. And people keep saying the libertarians have no power. A large enough swing […]