Boyd Crowder
Teem MiCr0B35
From Vice:
Yesterday was just a regular Tuesday on Capitol Hill, which means somewhere, a congressman was resigning amid an interior decorating scandal, and a handful of noisy protesters in colonial costumes were trying to get themselves thrown out of the building.
On this particular Tuesday, the costumed demonstrators were members of the DC Cannabis Campaign and other local statehood activists, dressed in breeches and tricornered hats for what they rather unimaginatively referred to as "Ye Olde Colonial Day." More specifically, there were there to protest Congressman Jason Chaffetz, the Utah Republican who has clashed publicly with the city over its implementation of a voter-approved initiative to legalize marijuana in the District.
It was yet another dustup in what has become a never-ending saga over DC's new marijuana law. Chaffetz, who heads the House committee in charge of overseeing the nation's capital city, has taken the lead in trying to block the initiative, and sent a letter last month threatening to arrest DC Mayor Muriel Bowser if she and the DC Council moved forward with legalizing pot. So far, they haven't followed through on the threat, but a congressional investigation is still looming.
At issue is the question of whether the city violated a rider House Republicans slipped into an end-of-year spending bill, which blocked the District from using any federal or local funds to enact legalization. Arguing that the law was enacted when it was approved by DC voters, District officials went ahead and legalized marijuana possession last month, but are effectively barred from setting up any mechanism to tax and regulate the newmarket.
The fight has sparked old debates over the District's right to self-determination, stirring up tensions between DC statehood activists and their federal overlords in Congress. Although DC won the right to home rule in 1973, Congress has final say over the city's budget, and has periodically used its power of the purse to block various, mostly liberal, initiatives in the city. Federal lawmakers stalled the District's medical marijuana law for more than a decade, and have also prohibited the city from using funds for needle exchange programs, or abortion services.
So statehood activists are perhaps understandably chafed when a congressman from Utah or Maryland tries to impose his will on Washington, DC, a city whose roughly 650,000 tax-paying residents aren't represented by a single voting member in Congress.
Read More:
http://www.vice.com/read/weed-activists-want-congress-to-give-up-fight-against-dc-legalizaiton-318
Yesterday was just a regular Tuesday on Capitol Hill, which means somewhere, a congressman was resigning amid an interior decorating scandal, and a handful of noisy protesters in colonial costumes were trying to get themselves thrown out of the building.
On this particular Tuesday, the costumed demonstrators were members of the DC Cannabis Campaign and other local statehood activists, dressed in breeches and tricornered hats for what they rather unimaginatively referred to as "Ye Olde Colonial Day." More specifically, there were there to protest Congressman Jason Chaffetz, the Utah Republican who has clashed publicly with the city over its implementation of a voter-approved initiative to legalize marijuana in the District.
It was yet another dustup in what has become a never-ending saga over DC's new marijuana law. Chaffetz, who heads the House committee in charge of overseeing the nation's capital city, has taken the lead in trying to block the initiative, and sent a letter last month threatening to arrest DC Mayor Muriel Bowser if she and the DC Council moved forward with legalizing pot. So far, they haven't followed through on the threat, but a congressional investigation is still looming.
At issue is the question of whether the city violated a rider House Republicans slipped into an end-of-year spending bill, which blocked the District from using any federal or local funds to enact legalization. Arguing that the law was enacted when it was approved by DC voters, District officials went ahead and legalized marijuana possession last month, but are effectively barred from setting up any mechanism to tax and regulate the newmarket.
The fight has sparked old debates over the District's right to self-determination, stirring up tensions between DC statehood activists and their federal overlords in Congress. Although DC won the right to home rule in 1973, Congress has final say over the city's budget, and has periodically used its power of the purse to block various, mostly liberal, initiatives in the city. Federal lawmakers stalled the District's medical marijuana law for more than a decade, and have also prohibited the city from using funds for needle exchange programs, or abortion services.
So statehood activists are perhaps understandably chafed when a congressman from Utah or Maryland tries to impose his will on Washington, DC, a city whose roughly 650,000 tax-paying residents aren't represented by a single voting member in Congress.
Read More:
http://www.vice.com/read/weed-activists-want-congress-to-give-up-fight-against-dc-legalizaiton-318
