Washington D.C. residents won't be purchasing recreational cannabis any time soon after Congressional lawmakers extended a ban on adult-use marijuana sales in the region. Although residents voted in favor of legalizing adult-use marijuana for adults in 2015, a federal spending bill rider prevents regulators from using local tax rules to create a legal framework for a commercial recreational cannabis market.
The rider has been part of fiscal fending passages every year since and has prevented D.C. from launching a commercial market for years.
Last week, the Republican-controlled House chose to renew the spending rider under the 2024 spending bill again, stating in a summary that it would "retain the ban on federal and local funds" as it pertains to adult-use cannabis legalization in D.C.
The move has been condemned by Representative Eleanor Holmes Norton, a key advocate for granting D.C. statehood and an outspoken critic of the anti-cannabis rider. Norton released a statement saying that while she was pleased with several of the provisions included in the spending bill, she was outraged by the repeated inclusion of the rider, stating that the rider limited the city's ability to make its own regulations.
Although D.C.'s recreational cannabis market has so far failed to get off the ground, several other states have successfully launched their own markets. The state-legal recreational marijuana industry is now one of the fastest-growing sectors in the country, employing tens of thousands of Americans and generating billions of dollars in tax revenue. On top of that, most states with legal recreational markets have included social equity provisions to aid communities that were disproportionately affected by the failed war on drugs.
However, with the spending rider banning lawmakers from using local taxpayer dollars to launch an adult-use sector, D.C. residents won't be seeing a commercial market any time soon.
Interestingly, the anti-cannabis rider has even been questioned by certain Republican members of the House. In May, House Oversight and Accountability Committee chair James Comer said that he would review the federal rider following testimony from Washington, D.C., mayor Muriel Bowser.
Bowser told the committee that the congressional appropriations rider had prevented the city from launching a recreational cannabis market for years and posed a threat to public safety. Comer noted at the time that the rider and its impact on cannabis legalization had "caught his attention" and that he would review the matter.
In the meantime, no lawmakers have moved to amend the financial spending bill in the full House Appropriations Committee or the floor.
This continued blockage is not only hurting residents who are interested in using cannabis recreationally, it also stifles entrepreneurs who would like to start companies that address the needs of marijuana companies, such as Advanced Container Technologies Inc. ACTX.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to Advanced Container Technologies Inc. ACTX are available in the company's newsroom at https://cnw.fm/ACTX
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