President Donald Trump’s White House says the move to decriminalize marijuana in Washington, D.C. is an example of a “failed” policy that “opened the door to disorder.”
In a fact sheet about an executive order that Trump signed on Friday—which is broadly aimed at beautifying the District and making it more safe—the White House listed several local policies in the nation’s capital that it takes issue with, including cannabis reform. That’s despite the president’s previously stated support for a states’ rights approach to marijuana laws.
“D.C.’s failed policies opened the door to disorder—and criminals noticed,” it says, citing “marijuana decriminalization,” as well as the District’s decision to end pre-trial detentions and enforcement practices around rioters, as examples of such policies.
The executive order itself doesn’t mention marijuana specifically. But it says the directive will involve “deploying a more robust Federal law enforcement presence and coordinating with local law enforcement to facilitate the deployment of a more robust local law enforcement presence as appropriate in areas in or about” D.C., and that includes addressing “drug possession, sale, and use.”
With respect to the fact sheet circulated by the White House, cannabis possession and personal cultivation is legalized in D.C. under a voter-approved ballot initiative, though commercial sales of non-medical marijuana remain illegal (a policy referred to by some as “decriminalization”).
Because of a long-standing congressional rider that’s been annually renewed since that vote, the District hasn’t been able to use local funds to implement a system of regulated recreational cannabis sales, so officials have taken steps to expand the city’s existing medical marijuana program as a workaround.
Hellbound and Down 