WASHINGTON — Stuck between Congress and voters’ will, residents of this politically charged town are becoming urban gardeners, turning closets and living rooms into tiny cannabis farms while politicians dither over whether it ever will be legal to sell marijuana in the nation’s capital.
They’re also ignoring a ban on sales and illegally buying cannabis from a myriad of delivery services that “sell” $60 cookies that come with a free gift.
“D.C. is so weird,” said Chris Washburn, who owns a growing supply store popular with marijuana home-growers. “We look at some of the people around us and wonder, ‘How on Earth are you getting away this this?’ ”
Voters in the District of Columbia legalized marijuana in 2014, abolishing district-level criminal penalties for possession, consumption and growing small amounts. But the Republican-controlled Congress has ultimate control over the district and must agree if its council wants to create any taxes on marijuana sales.
So sales remain banned.
Complicating matters: Marijuana continues to be illegal at the federal level, and the district is patchworked with federal property from the National Mall to the White House. Federal employees and contractors are barred from using marijuana, and some in the large military community are subject to random drug testing.
Credit : usatoday
