Smoking out the War on Drugs, state by state

Legal marijuana: Good politics, good policy, confusing policing

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by Natalie Meltzer

There are few issues that are as broadly popular among voters as legalizing marijuana: nearly 70 percent of American adults support legalizing weed, a supermajority that includes 83% of Democrats, 71% of independents, and 50% of Republicans.   

The only demographic that isn’t in favor of giving the green light to grass is voters aged 75 and older, and given the age of many of our lawmakers, that helps explain the disconnect between popular opinion and official policy.

As an architect and proponent of the war on drugs in the 1980s and 1990s, President Biden has been slowly catching up with public opinion on cannabis. Right now, he supports states’ decisions to legalize marijuana for recreational use as well as decriminalizing marijuana use and automatically expunging any associated prior criminal records. 

Unfortunately, there are inconsistencies even in these small steps toward progress. For example, the President’s 2023 budget plan includes a ban on establishing a regulatory framework for the sale and taxation of marijuana in Washington, D.C.

“I have a hard time reconciling the administration’s strong support for D.C. statehood, which would give D.C. not only voting representation in Congress but also full local self-government, with a budget that prohibits D.C. from spending its local funds on recreational marijuana commercialization,” D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton said in a statement. 

The “Harris Market” 

D.C. voters legalized the possession, use, home cultivation, and gifting of marijuana back in 2014, but sales have been prohibited since Congress inserted a provision in the 2015 budget that prevents the District from passing legislation to permit and regulate them. Known as the Harris Rider, a dubious honor for its sponsor, Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.), the provision has been included in the federal budget every year since. 

“In D.C., it shouldn't be called the black market. It should be called the Harris market. If there's any uptick in the black market, it's thanks to Harris,” tweeted D.C. Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development John Falcicchio. 

With Democrats controlling the White House, House and Senate, local officials and advocates believe now is a window of opportunity to eliminate the Harris Rider. Congressional Democrats tried to remove the provision from the budget, but earlier this month Congress passed a spending bill that keeps it in place until at least September.