DC Mayor Vows To Move Forward With Marijuana Legalization Despite Republican Threats Of Jail

In the final hours before marijuana possession is scheduled to become legal in the nation’s capital, House Republicans have warned District of Columbia officials that they could go to jail if the measure to legalize goes into effect, but D.C.’s mayor has not backed down.

“You can go to prison for this,” said Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) in a Wednesday interview with The Washington Post about the marijuana law that is supposed to go into effect Thursday. “We’re not playing a little game here.”

In a letter sent to D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser on Tuesday, Reps. Chaffetz and Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) told the mayor that if the city decides to move forward with the legalization of marijuana in the District, “you will be doing so in knowing and willful violation of the law.”

Marijuana policy reformers were appalled by the suggestion that any D.C. officials could go to jail over the new law.

“I thought putting people in jail for using marijuana was absurd enough, but a member of Congress threatening the mayor of the nation’s capital with prison time just for implementing the will of her city’s voters is completely unacceptable,” Tom Angell, chairman of reform advocacy group Marijuana Majority, told HuffPost. “Other Republicans would do well to distance themselves from these undemocratic comments.”

The Huffington Post