DC Council Responds To Pro Legalization Push

  The conversation in DC has moved...... now the real details.....

D.C. poised for a giant leap toward legalizing small amounts of marijuana

By Aaron C. Davis, Published: October 24

D.C. lawmakers took more than 15 years to allow cancer patients to use marijuana for their pain. But over just a few months, city leaders have coalesced around a plan to decriminalize small joints, blunts or bowls full of marijuana in the nation’s capital.
Ten of 13 council members have signed on to a bill to make possession of less than an ounce of marijuana punishable by a fine of no more than $100. On Wednesday, Mayor Vincent C. Gray (D) said for the first time that he supports the idea. And on Thursday, the author of the bill and the office of the attorney general said they could agree to an even smaller, token fine of $25.
Such a move wouldn’t go as far as changes by Colorado and Washington state, where voters have legalized marijuana. Seventeen states also have eliminated jail time for possession in favor of civil finesof up to $1,000. If the bill passes, the District would rank behind only Alaska, which has no fine, as the most forgiving.
Even advocates of full legalization are surprised by the breakneck speed of the legislation in the District, where lawmakers have long been reluctant to test Congress on federal drug laws.
Two recent studies that ranked the District among the worst for racial disparity in marijuana arrests and the Justice Department’s growing leniency toward state plans for the medical usage of marijuana have given formerly reluctant Democrats cover to support the idea.
The city’s coming mayoral election has also turbocharged the debate.
Council member Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6), who is seeking the Democratic nomination, wrote the bill. Jack Evans (D-Ward 2), another mayoral candidate, has signed on in support. So has David A. Catania (At Large), who might run as an independent. And as Gray decides whether to seek reelection, he has bowed to the political reality that the measure is likely to clear the council in December or January with a supermajority that could override a veto.
Wells has cast the effort in lofty terms of lifting up the city’s African Americans and has done so comfortably, with Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) by his side as co-author.
“Less than one ounce would not be a crime. . . . That would no longer mean a drug-arrest record,” Wells said Wednesday night to applause at a community hearing on the bill in Anacostia.
On Thursday, during a continuation of the hearing in the D.C. Council’s chamber in the John A. Wilson Building, Wells said: “Punishment for drug crimes disproportionately falls on the shoulders of blacks and Latinos. . . . We don’t want to accuse the police, we don’t want to accuse anybody . . . but it is a major societal justice problem, and we are going to fix it.”
The numbers that have shaped the debate so far have come largely from a study published in July by the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs and another earlier in the year by the American Civil Liberties Union.
The study by the lawyers’ committee found that nine of 10 people arrested in the District on charges of simple drug possession are black, even as blacks account for less than half the city’s population.
The ACLU study also found that the District is arresting more people than ever for marijuana possession: It was up 60 percent in the decade that ended in 2010, with black residents accounting for much of the jump.
Over the summer, the NAACP criticized authorities in the District and other cities for using a pretense of smelling marijuana to stop blacks.
The legislation doesn’t go as far as some legalization advocates would like, and they are awaiting the outcome of Wells’s bill to decide whether to press ahead with trying to get a nonbinding referendum on the ballot in 2014 to fully legalize and regulate marijuana sales in the city.
Backers of that idea said Thursday that they might abandon a costly referendum if a proposed amendment by Barry makes it into the legislation. Barry wants to let the District go the way of Uruguay and allow residents to grow a small number of marijuana plants in their homes.
If residents have their own, Barry said, it could “cut out a lot of the economics” of illegal street sales of the drug.
“My motivation is very simple. We have hundreds of black men, black boys, being locked up for simple possession, given a criminal record,” Barry said. “In my community, I talk to somebody almost every day who says: ‘Somebody just got arrested for having a bag of weed. Come on, man — What’s that all about?’ ”
Also during the summer, D.C. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier urged a “robust discussion” of the proposal and cautioned against using the ACLU study to justify decriminalization.
“Some of the information being used as an argument for decriminalization is flawed,” she said in a statement. “Marijuana users are simply not being targeted in the manner suggested.” Lanier did not testify for Gray’s administration on Thursday.
That was left to the office of the attorney general, which among other things asked Wells to ensure that marijuana possession in school zones is still considered a crime. Wells said he agreed with that idea for adults but not for children, who under the bill would have their drugs confiscated and their parents called.




http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/dc-poised-for-giant-leap-toward-legalizing-marijuana/2013/10/24/db183fb0-3cbe-11e3-b6a9-da62c264f40e_story.html

Right Time is Now - It's A Plant, Not A Sin

  For years DC politricksters chanted their mantra that "the time is not now" and "Congress will block it" when asked anything about lowering penalties for marijuana. I give Zuckerberg and his run for City Council, the credit for getting us to the right time.
  Now to pressure the City Council to make the fine as low as possible so that there is no point in enforcing the statute.

D.C. mayor backs decriminalizing marijuana, replacing criminal charges with civil fines

By Aaron C. Davis, Published: October 23

D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray (D) on Wednesday offered his first unequivocal support for decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana, adding momentum to a legislative proposal that has the support of a supermajority on the D.C. Council and could make the District one of the nation’s most lenient jurisdictions on marijuana possession.
Under a measure proposed by council member Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6), possession of less than an ounce of marijuana in the District would no longer be punishable by six months in jail and a penalty of $1,000.
Instead, those caught with amounts of the drug deemed for personal use would risk only a civil charge and a ticket of $100 — the equivalent of parking in a no-parking area in the District at rush hour.
Wells, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for mayor, and civil liberties groups have urged passage of the measure. They say the District’s marijuana laws have disproportionately affected African Americans and have saddled some residents with criminal records, making it hard for them to find gainful employment.
Wells and council member Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) have scheduled a two-part hearing on the bill, beginning Wednesday night in Southeast Washington and continuing Thursday at the John A. Wilson Building.
Gray said that his surrogates would testify Thursday in favor of decriminalizing marijuana.
“I support decriminalization. Legalization is another issue. I’m not there on that issue, yet,” the mayor said, alluding to laws such as those in Colorado and Washington state.
This past summer, D.C. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier urged a “robust discussion” of the legislation, calling it a significant issue and saying she has concerns about the risks marijuana poses for children, as well as the potential conflict with federal law.
Staff members in Gray’s and Wells’s offices said neither Lanier nor anyone else from the police department was scheduled to testify Thursday.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/dc-mayor-backs-decriminalizing-marijuana-replacing-criminal-charges-with-civil-fines/2013/10/23/b70d1f3c-3c2d-11e3-a94f-b58017bfee6c_story.html

DC Obstructs The Peoples' Will On Medical Marijuana

  The DC City Council has seriously altered the original voter referendum that legalized medical marijuana in DC. Along with all sorts of other alterations (no personal cultivation as specifically allowed in the referendum), now they say a doctor must be registered to provide a patient with a recommendation fopr marijuana. Being a licensed medical doctor is not enough. That is ridiculous.

Opening of D.C. medical marijuana dispensaries delayed

June 2, 2013 | 9:00 pm 

D.C. marijuana dispensaries thought they'd be open a month ago, but a slow-moving District Department of Health still needs to give doctors the authority to recommend marijuana to their patients.
"If you drove by now you'd see the signs are up and everything is ready -- except the doors are locked," said Rabbi Jeff Kahn, owner of the Takoma Wellness Center on Blair Road in Northwest Washington.
Two marijuana dispensaries and three cultivation centers have been approved by the District.
Kahn has rented the property since April 2011 and said it's been fully ready to go since the beginning of May.
"It's been a very long experience, and it is kind of frustrating," he said. "We're still getting over the fact that it didn't happen in May. We certainly think it's going to be the beginning of June."
So if you are suffering from Crohn's disease or one of the other illnesses that qualify a patient for medical marijuana use, you're going to have to wait a bit longer.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Health said marijuana dispensaries would likely open in the middle of June.
"I believe the executive has been slow on just about everything," said Ward 6 Councilman Tommy Wells. "I don't want to over-politicize this, but my general feeling is there just has been molasses poured over the government -- it's not just this."
Wells, who is running for mayor, is also working with Ward 8 Councilman Marion Barry to draft legislation to decriminalize marijuana.
The mayor's office said it is merely trying to thoughtfully address how it handles marijuana in the District.
"We prefer to get things right rather than rush for appearance's sake," Pedro Ribeiro, Mayor Vincent Gray's spokesman, wrote in an email. "The mayor has repeatedly said we need to get this program up and running properly, before we consider moving beyond it."
The Department of Health said it still needs to approve doctors who can recommend marijuana to patients in the District before dispensaries can open.
For his part, Kahn said he had talked to doctors who had requested forms to apply for the certification, but had not received them yet.
A spokeswoman for the health department on Friday said doctors had received applications.
The District's medical marijuana laws limits the amount of marijuana that cultivators can grow and restricts the number of dispensaries that can sell it. Adam Bierman, president of the medical marijuana consulting company Medmen, said the District regulations will severely restrict the business in D.C.
"I don't see how it will ever actually take any real foothold until there are some updates," he said.
The District approved medical marijuana with a referendum in 1998. Twelve years later, the D.C. Council approved legislation meant to move ahead the implementation of medical marijuana.
enewcomer@washingtonexaminer.com

 http://washingtonexaminer.com/opening-of-d.c.-medical-marijuana-dispensaries-delayed/article/2530926

Zuckerberg Puts Legalization On Debate In DC

Without the candidacy of Paul Zuckerberg for City Council in the recent election, this would not even be in discussion. Thank you Mr. Zuckerberg!

Some on D.C. Council plan bills to ease penalties for having marijuana

By Tim Craig, Published: May 15

Some D.C. Council members are crafting legislation to lessen the penalties for marijuana possession, hoping to settle the matter before outside groups petition the issue onto the ballot.
Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) and Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6) — who as chairman of the Judiciary and Public Safety Committee would shepherd the legislation — are formulating a proposal to eliminate criminal penalties for those caught with small amounts of cannabis or subject offenders to fines.
“Absolutely, it’s time we look at decriminalization of marijuana in the District of Columbia,” said Wells, who is running for mayor next year. “It’s time we enter the 21st century and stop criminalizing people . . . for what is not really a major crime.”
Wells and Barry said they will introduce a bill as early as this summer. Meanwhile, Anita Bonds (D-At Large) also is considering a measure to decriminalize marijuana or reduce penalties for possession. The initiatives would be debated by Wells’s committee.
Although there appears to be council support for a debate, those who support decriminalizing pot face considerable obstacles, including a skeptical council chairman, Phil Mendelson (D).
“I don’t think it’s the right time,” said Mendelson, who noted that Congress has blocked similar efforts in the District. “I don’t think decriminalization of marijuana will go over easily with Congress.”
But advocates say they think that there is growing momentum in the District and across the nation to change drug laws. On Monday, the Vermont Legislature voted to decriminalize up to an ounce of marijuana, joining more than a dozen states to remove the threat of jail for possession. Colorado is preparing to tax the sale of marijuana.
Steve Fox of the Marijuana Policy Project said advocates may seek a referendum on the matter in the District as early as November 2014. A recent poll of District voters commissioned by the group and the Drug Policy Alliance, which support decriminalizing marijuana, found broad backing for decriminalizing or legalizing the drug.
But Barry, who first supported marijuana decriminalization as mayor in the 1980s, said he would prefer that the council, instead of voters, decide the matter.
He said too many young African Americans get criminal records because of small amounts of marijuana possession. “These council members ought to stand up, and I think they will, on behalf of their constituency, who suffers mightily from this archaic situation,” said Barry, who was arrested for cocaine possession in 1990 while mayor.
Barry said he and Wells hope to get “six or seven” council members to co-sponsor a measure. On Wednesday, David Grosso (I-At Large) pledged his support but added that he wants to broaden the discussion to include legalization.
“The people on the streets dealing are the nonviolent drug offenders who are going to jail for dealing drugs,” said Grosso, who at age 22 was arrested in 1993 in Florida for having marijuana. “I think that is a serious problem.”
Vincent B. Orange (D-At Large) compared the marijuana debate to the ongoing debate over regulating food trucks. “It’s just something we are going to have to address,” said Orange, who is undecided on decriminalization.
Mendelson, however, said the issue should be decided by voters instead of the council to avoid congressional scrutiny. “As a matter of strategy, an initiative might be a better way to go, strategically, because then you have all the voters speaking,” he said.
Under city law, possession of up to half a pound of marijuana is punishable by up to 180 days in jail and a $1,000 fine on a first offense.
Most first-time offenders are sentenced to community service and are eligible to have their records expunged. But Paul Zukerberg, a lawyer who specializes in marijuana cases, said many offenders get criminal records because they lack the resources to get their records expunged.
Zukerberg, who unsuccessfully ran for the council on a decriminalization platform, said thousands of people cannot find work because of criminal records.
“You have to aggressively go after it to have the charge removed,” he said. “And, as a practical matter, once your name is in a public database for a number of years, to try to go back and erase it is futile.”
Regardless of what happens on the council, Wells’s decision to push for decriminalization means the issue will most probably become part of the mayoral race.
Mayor Vincent C. Gray (D), who has yet to announce whether he will seek reelection, has said the city should fully implement the medical marijuana law before considering decriminalization.
Muriel Bowser (D-Ward 4), a candidate for mayor, said she’s considering her response but also thinks the city should stay focused on its medical marijuana program.
“I think the notion about the concern of the number of people in our criminal-justice system because of minor drug offenses warrants looking at,” said Bowser, who is also on the judiciary committee. “But I am not prepared to say we need to go another step.”




http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/some-on-dc-council-plan-bills-to-ease-penalties-for-having-marijuana/2013/05/15/18feed18-bd87-11e2-97d4-a479289a31f9_story.html

DC Dispensary Notes

Montel Williams among D.C. medical marijuana license seekers

By Mike DeBonis, Published: August 16

Montel Williams, the talk show host, actor and pitchman, is part of a nonprofit group seeking licenses from the District to operate a marijuana dispensary and cultivation facilities.

According to D.C. records, the Abatin Wellness Center has expressed preliminary interest in opening medical marijuana businesses in the city. A dispensary by the same name opened this year in Sacramento with Williams as its public face.

Abatin has hired D.C. lawyer Frederick D. Cooke Jr. to shepherd it through the process. Cooke confirmed Tuesday that Williams, who has multiple sclerosis and is a supporter of medicinal cannabis, has a major role in the group. “He is not the managing director or the driving guy,” Cooke said. “But he is certainly at a level more involved than being a face of the organization. He knows a lot about the organization, and he speaks and gets resources. He does stuff that makes the organization go.”

Jonathan Franks, a Los Angeles-based publicist for Williams and Abatin, said, “This is not a spokesman-for-hire deal,”

Cooke said Williams visited the District this year to show his interest in the city and its marijuana program. “We talked to a few people outside the Wilson Building and inside the Wilson Building. We couldn’t lobby,” he said.

The nonprofit Sacramento dispensary seeks to occupy an upscale niche in the marijuana retail industry. One reviewer recently referred to it as the “Nieman Marcus [sic] Of Marijuana.”

Under the District’s medical marijuana law, people convicted of a felony or drug-related misdemeanor are not allowed to participate in the program. It is unclear whether Williams’s January citation for possession of drug paraphernalia will complicate matters for him. (“I don’t believe that would be an issue,” Cooke said.)

Applications to operate cultivation centers are due Sept. 16. The application period for dispensaries will follow.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/montel-williams-among-dc-medical-marijuana-license-seekers/2011/08/16/gIQA9nDvJJ_story.html

On The Horizon

D.C.'s medical marijuana law has problems but is a step in the right direction

By Robert McCartney
Thursday, May 13, 2010; B01

The risk with the District's new medical marijuana law isn't that the city will become another California with hundreds of pot shops and doctors who'll approve it for people feeling just jittery or blue. Instead, the worry is that the statute is so restrictive there won't be enough legal weed to meet demand.

Fearful that Congress might kill the law, the D.C. Council approved what cannabis advocates say is probably the least-permissive measure in the country.

No growing at home. Only five to eight "dispensaries" to sell it. Licensed cultivators are limited to 95 plants. They have to grow indoors, which means smaller plants.

The limits could mean that people with ailments such as cancer and multiple sclerosis would have to use the black market to get marijuana for relief from nausea, muscle spasms and other symptoms.

Other controversies are likely. Competition will be fierce among would-be pot entrepreneurs eager for lucrative licenses to operate dispensaries or grow plants. Unsettling r?sum?s will abound, such as from big operators outside the state and local people who've been in the business illegally for years.

"They're calling wondering, who do I need to grease? Who do I need to show our support to?" said Allen St. Pierre, executive director of the National Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws.

None of this is to say the law was a mistake. Quite the opposite. Loyal readers know I support legalizing marijuana, including for recreational purposes. My goals for pot policy can be summarized in four words: good quality, reasonable prices.

Until that's achieved -- St. Pierre predicts it'll take a decade for public opinion to shift that far -- we must settle for small steps in the right direction.

Thus, I applaud the council, led by Health Committee Chairman David A. Catania (I-At Large) and Public Safety Chairman Phil Mendelson (D-At Large), for pushing through a carefully crafted bill. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) plans to sign it soon. It'll take effect this fall, if all goes well.

To the extent there's a problem, the culprits are overwrought antidrug moralists in Congress. They'll have 30 working days after Fenty's signature to try to block the bill. Nobody expects them to succeed, but their mere presence means the measure is too cautious.

The biggest shortcoming is the ban on patients growing their own pot. That blocks a sure way to get it cheaply and easily. It significantly increases the risk of shortages.

This gets complicated because of great uncertainty over how many users there'll be. Catania estimates the number to be between 300 and 1,000. However, the view was unanimous among marijuana advocates whom I interviewed that the figure will be much higher, based on experience elsewhere.

"The demand out there is huge," said Caren Woodson, director of government affairs of Americans for Safe Access. She said more than 15,000 District residents suffer from cancer, MS or HIV/AIDS, all of which are included on the law's list of conditions that potentially qualify people for medical marijuana.

That number doesn't include people with glaucoma, which is also on the list, or other chronic, debilitating illnesses that the D.C. Health Department could add to the roster.

Then there's the limit of 95 plants per licensed grower. Each plant can support one or at most two patients. Based on a conservative assumption of 1,000 users, that means at least five to 10 cultivators are needed. If there are 5,000 users, then the number of growers rises to 25 to 50.

Who will they be? The application rules are strict and prohibit felons or individuals with misdemeanor drug convictions. Presumably that means area dealers and growers who apply will be ones too smart or lucky to have been caught.

Finally, there's the issue of where to locate the growers and dispensaries. There should be some interesting community battles, as the law assigns "great weight" to views of Advisory Neighborhood Commissions on deciding the sites.

St. Pierre predicted the grow houses will be "in Northeast by the railroad tracks. It's going to be in the same places where we put other problematic adult commerce, like strip clubs."

At least there shouldn't be any problem finding people hoping to do the job. It's easy for a grower to make six figures a year after the initial start-up cost, according to activists and other experienced observers.

"The average person, if they were even somewhat competent, they'd be able to make something like a hundred grand a year," said Conor, 30, of Northwest, who plans to apply both to grow marijuana and operate a dispensary. He declined to give his last name for fear of angering his employer.

Conor said he grew marijuana until seven years ago, and the proceeds helped finance his college education. Although eager to resume, he is unhappy about the bureaucracy.

"I have a kind of an individualist, libertarian slant on it," Conor said. "Governments tend to put these barriers to entry up and hurt small business."

Maybe that's how the District should get conservatives in Congress to back off. Make it about excessive government regulation. Free markets, more weed.

If you're interested, my earlier column urging legalization of marijuana was published Sept. 13, 2009. I think pot should be treated much like alcohol -- regulated, taxed and prohibited for minors.

McCartney discusses local issues at 8:51 a.m. Friday on WAMU (88.5 FM).

City Council Regulates Medical Marijuana Dispensaries

More and more cities and counties are addressing these issues - DC approved some form of medical marijuana by citizen initiative but Congress prohibited DC from counting the votes. If those votes are ever counted, the issues in this article will be real here in DC.

Rules proposed for city's marijuana clinics

by Shane Benjamin
Herald Staff Writer

Article Last Updated; Tuesday, October 06, 2009 12:25AM

The Durango City Council will consider a new ordinance tonight that governs medicinal marijuana dispensaries in the city, including a rule that requires clinics to install an alarm system with video surveillance.

The proposed ordinance also addresses when, where and how marijuana providers can operate.

In August, Durango Police Chief David Felice raised concerns about the lack of regulation and oversight of dispensaries in the city. In response, the City Council approved an emergency ordinance temporarily suspending the issuance of business licenses to marijuana providers until guidelines could be drafted.

Coloradoans voted in 2000 to legalize medical marijuana, and dispensaries proliferated this year after the federal government announced it won’t perform raids on state-sanctioned businesses. There are four dispensaries in Durango – all of them opened this year.

The draft ordinance is largely a compromise between city staff members and marijuana providers, said City Manager Ron LeBlanc.

“The process was good,” he said. “I think it’s going to be a win-win all around.”

Under the proposed ordinance, dispensaries cannot be located within 500 feet of schools, day cares and public parks. They could operate in commercial districts, but not residential areas, including as home businesses.
Hours of operation would be limited to 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Dispensaries would be required to have an alarm system that notifies law enforcement if the business is burglarized. The alarm system must be equipped with video and voice surveillance.

Clinics that house prescription drugs have a similar requirement, LeBlanc said.

Likewise, inventory containing marijuana will need to be placed in a locked and secure safe while the business is closed.

Three of the four dispensaries contacted Monday said they have no problem with the security measures proposed in the ordinance, but some would have to make upgrades to be in compliance with the law.

Dispensaries would need to apply for a store-front sign through the Planning Commission. No exterior signage could use the words “marijuana,” “cannabis,” or any other word or phrase commonly understood to refer to marijuana.

That may come as bad news to Eric Gay, owner of Holistic Hemp LLC on Florida Road, who has a store-front sign but doesn’t use his office as a walk-in clinic.

“I don’t know if I would be grandfathered in,” he said. “I don’t plan on changing my business name.”
Other proposed rules include:

- No smoking of marijuana – even if obtained legally – within 15 feet of dispensaries.
- Dispensaries could not employ anyone younger than 18.
- All owners of dispensaries must undergo a criminal background check when seeking an application or renewal.

Nate Fete, manager of Nature’s Medicine, 129 E. 32nd St., said it’s a good ordinance so far.

“I thought we did a really good job of figuring out what would be best for the city of Durango,” he said.

Mark Busnardo, co-owner of Durango Healing Center, 473 E. College Drive, said he’s also OK with the proposed ordinance. But his business currently stays open until 9 p.m. Friday nights, so he might have to change his hours.

The purpose of the ordinance was to help residents and public officials better understand marijuana dispensaries and feel better about their legitimacy in the community, Busnardo said.

Gay, with Holistic Hemp, said it’s unfortunate an ordinance is needed, and people don’t understand the medicinal qualities of marijuana.

“I think there’s just a whole lot of fuss over this, and there shouldn’t be,” he said. “It’s safer than alcohol; it’s safer than most prescription drugs.”

shane@durangoherald.com

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http://durangoherald.com/sections/News/2009/10/06/Rules_proposed_for_citys_marijuana_clinics/