Congressional subcommittee lifts “Barr Amendments” forbidding DC from medical marijuana and decriminalization
Wednesday, July 1st, 2009 at 2:20 pm | By: Radical Russ
Update: I’ve modified the headline from “Congress lifts…” to better reflect the story — “R”R
A House appropriations subcommittee has lifted a long-standing budget rider banning the District government from spending any money to decriminalize marijuana.
The Financial Services panel, which has oversight of D.C., has removed from the 2010 budget 11-year-old language outlawing the District’s use of federal or local funds to legalize marijuana or reduce penalties for its possession or distribution.
Rep. Jose Serrano, the subcommittee chairman, said … the budget bill “allows the District to conduct and implement a referendum on use of marijuana for medical purposes as has been done in various states.”
The District voted on medical marijuana once before, in 1998, but the votes were declared invalid. Former Rep. Bob Barr raced to have his anti-legalization language added to the budget two weeks before the initiative vote was held. When the ballots were unofficially tallied nearly a year after they were cast, it was learned that 69 percent of voters backed legalization.
It has always struck me as ironic that in the Land of the Free, our capitol was built by slaves, and that in a country born from a revolution because of “taxation without representation”, the citizens in the capital are taxed but get no vote in the House or Senate. Add to that irony that the people in the seat of democracy were unable to exercise self rule on the matter of marijuana because the Congress wouldn’t allow them to count their votes.
Also ironic: that former Rep. Bob Barr, who introduced these democracy-killing amendments against marijuana, is now a paid lobbyist for the Marijuana Policy Project. The author of these anti-marijuana bills came around faster than the Congress has!
Topics: Barr Amendment, Bob Barr, marijuana policy project, Washington DC
may the Judge who sentenced Jonathan Magby rot in hell..
This is great news….I remember being so excited in 1998 upon hearing that the voters in DC had approved Medical Marijuana….then being so disappointed when I heard days later of the political trickery that kept their votes from being counted……good things are happening again!!!!