Initiative 71 was a voter-approved ballot measure in Washington, D.C., that legalized the recreational use of cannabis. The

short title In certain jurisdictions, including the United Kingdom and other Westminster-influenced jurisdictions (such as Canada or Australia), as well as the United States and the Philippines, primary legislation has both a short title and a long title. The ...

of the initiative was "Legalization of Possession of Minimal Amounts of Marijuana for Personal Use Act of 2014". The measure was approved by 64.87% of voters on November 4, 2014 and went into full effect on February 26, 2015. Due to a congressional mandate, Washington, D.C., is not permitted to establish recreational marijuana dispensaries as outlined in Initiative 71. As such, marijuana is currently legal to possess and use in the District and to gift up to one ounce but not to commercially produce or sell. However, the legalization of gifting up to one ounce of cannabis as outlined in Initiative 71, has created a

gift economy A gift economy or gift culture is a system of exchange where valuables are not sold, but rather given without an explicit agreement for immediate or future rewards. Social norms and customs govern giving a gift in a gift culture; although there ...

, where stores and businesses in D.C. exchange cannabis as a gift with the purchases of items such as t-shirts, stickers etc, which are actually being purchased by customers.

Creation

In 2010, DC-based

headshop A head shop is a retail outlet specializing in paraphernalia used for consumption of cannabis and tobacco and items related to cannabis culture and related countercultures. They emerged from the hippie counterculture in the late 1960s, ...

Capitol Hemp was one of the largest contributors to the failed Proposition 19, which would have legalized cannabis in California. The following year in 2011, Capitol Hemp was raided by the Washington, DC Metropolitan Police Department for allegedly selling paraphernalia. As required in a deferred prosecution agreement with U.S. Attorneys, owners

Adam Eidinger Adam Eidinger (born 1973) is a Washington D.C. businessman and cannabis rights activist, known for his role in spearheading Initiative 71, which legalized cannabis in the District of Columbia in 2015. Early life Eidinger was born in Pittsburgh ...

and Alan Amsterdam were forced to shut down the stores in September 2012 and decided to start the process to change the law. In early 2013, local activists Adam Eidinger, Nikolas Schiller, and Alan Amsterdam formed a skeleton organization "DCMJ" to advocate decriminalization of marijuana in the District. After seeing no movement from the Council of the District of Columbia, Eidinger submitted initial paperwork for a decriminalization ballot initiative, which was rejected by the Board of Election in September 2013 on technical budgetary grounds. The following month DCMJ solicited online feedback and resubmitted a second version, now strengthened to call for full legalization of marijuana. In an interview with the ''Washington Post'', Eidinger attributed his inspiration to legalize marijuana to his experiences in the 2011 police raids on his Capitol Hemp retail store, which was forced into closure by the city. On January 10, 2014, the DC Cannabis Campaign submitted the final version of the ballot initiative to the District of Columbia Board of Elections. Hearings were held in February and March, and on April 4, 2014, the board finalized the ballot initiative language.

Petition gathering

The campaign collected petition signatures from April 23 until the July 7 deadline, ultimately submitting over 55,000 signatures; the District certified 27,688 of the signatures as valid, exceeding the 22,600 requirement.

Intervening decriminalization

While the campaign was preparing its ballot initiative, on March 4, 2014, the Council of the District of Columbia decriminalized possession of cannabis, which went into effect in July following the mandatory 30-day congressional review period. Medical cannabis had already been legalized in the District by Initiative 59 in 1998, but its implementation was blocked by Congress until 2009, with the first legal sales occurring in 2013.

Election

Throughout 2014, the DC Cannabis Campaign advocated for passage of the measure, while groups such as Two Is Enough D.C. formed to oppose the measure. The measure was approved by 64.87% of voters on November 4, 2014. Almost immediately following,

Republicans Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

, and

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; ...

Representative Andy Harris in particular, vowed to block legalization of cannabis in D.C. The ballot results were certified on December 3, 2014. Source: DC Board of Elections

Opposition in Congress

In mid-December 2014, Congress passed an

omnibus spending bill An omnibus spending bill is a type of bill in the United States that packages many of the smaller ordinary appropriations bills into one larger single bill that can be passed with only one vote in each house. There are twelve different ordinary a ...

(nicknamed the "CRomnibus"—a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordscontinuing resolution In the United States, a continuing resolution (often abbreviated to CR) is a type of appropriations legislation. An appropriations bill is a bill that appropriates (gives to, sets aside for) money to specific federal government departments, ag ...

) that ended the federal ban on

medical marijuana Medical cannabis, or medical marijuana (MMJ), is cannabis and cannabinoids that are prescribed by physicians for their patients. The use of cannabis as medicine has not been rigorously tested due to production and governmental restrictio ...

, but that also included a

legislative rider In legislative procedure, a rider is an additional provision added to a bill or other measure under the consideration by a legislature, having little connection with the subject matter of the bill. Some scholars identify riders as a specific f ...

targeted at D.C.'s Initiative 71. The rider's final language barred the use of funds to "enact any law, rule, or regulation to legalize or otherwise reduce penalties associated with the possession, use, or distribution of any schedule I substance under the

Controlled Substances Act The Controlled Substances Act (CSA) is the statute establishing federal U.S. drug policy under which the manufacture, importation, possession, use, and distribution of certain substances is regulated. It was passed by the 91st United States ...

(21 U.S.C. 801 et seq.) or any tetrahydrocannabinols derivative for recreational purposes." The final language notably solely used the phrase "enact" rather than "enact or carry out." Delegate

Eleanor Holmes Norton Eleanor Holmes Norton (born June 13, 1937) is an American lawyer and politician serving as a delegate to the United States House of Representatives, representing the District of Columbia since 1991. She is a member of the Democratic Party. Ear ...

said that "she was told by Democratic budget negotiators that the omission was made on purpose to give city leaders a chance to argue that in moving forward, the District is only carrying out, and not enacting, the measure." Norton reiterated this point in an Initiative 71 questions and answers section on her House Web site. Both Mayor

Muriel Bowser Muriel Elizabeth Bowser (born August 2, 1972) is an American politician serving since 2015 as the eighth mayor of the District of Columbia. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously represented the 4th ward as a member of the Council ...

and the Council of the District of Columbia took the position that the voter-approved initiative became self-enacting. On January 13, 2015, D.C. Council Chairman

Phil Mendelson Philip Heath Mendelson (born November 8, 1952) is an American politician from Washington, D.C. He is currently Chairman of the Council of the District of Columbia, elected by the Council on June 13, 2012, following the resignation of Kwame R. ...

sent the measure to

for a mandatory 30-day review period, in accordance with the

District of Columbia Home Rule Act The District of Columbia Home Rule Act is a United States federal law passed on December 24, 1973, which devolved certain congressional powers of the District of Columbia to local government, furthering District of Columbia home rule. In par ...

. On February 24, 2015, Representatives

Jason Chaffetz Jason E. Chaffetz (; born March 26, 1967) is an American retired politician who served as the U.S. representative for from 2009 until his resignation in 2017. He chaired the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform from 2015 until 2017. Cha ...

and

Mark Meadows Mark Randall Meadows (born July 28, 1959) is an American politician who served as the 29th White House chief of staff from 2020 to 2021. A member of the Republican Party, he also served as the U.S. representative for North Carolina's 11th c ...

sent a letter to Bowser urging her to not move forward with Initiative 71. Congressional Republicans, including the omnibus rider author's Andy Harris, threatened prison time for the D.C. mayor and others involved, suggesting that they could be prosecuted by the Justice Department under the Anti-Deficiency Act, which "imposes criminal penalties on government employees who knowingly spend public funds in excess of their appropriated budgets."

Completion

This congressional review period ended at 12:01 a.m. on February 26, 2015, making D.C. then the "only place east of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it ...

where people can legally grow and share marijuana in private." D.C. "allows adults 21 and older to possess up to two ounces of marijuana, grow up to six plants, and gift up to one ounce of pot to other adults 21 and older, but sales remain banned", as Washington, D.C.,'s ballot initiative process does not allow spending mandates such as commercialization would require. However the legalization of gifting up to one ounce of cannabis as outlined in Initiative 71 has created a gifting economy in DC, where stores and businesses in DC exchange cannabis as a gift with the purchases of items such as t-shirts, stickers etc, which are actually being purchased by customers.

References

{{Cannabis in the United States 2014 cannabis law reform 2014 in Washington, D.C. Cannabis ballot measures in the United States Cannabis law in the District of Columbia Politics of Washington, D.C.