Jacob Sullum on the Difficulty of Stopping Marijuana Legalization in Washington, D.C.

At a press conference last week,
Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District of Columbia’s congressional
delegate, urged her colleagues to respect the will of the voters
who overwhelmingly approved marijuana legalization in the
nation’s capital on November 4. She was joined by three
congressmen, including Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), who said trying
to block legalization in D.C. or in Alaska and Oregon, where voters
also said no to marijuana prohibition this month, would flout
“fundamental principles” that “Republicans have always talked
about,” including “individual liberties,” “limited government,” and
“states’ rights and the 10th Amendment.”

Norton noted that “we’ve had a threat to try to overturn our
legalization initiative.” She was referring to Rep. Andy Harris
(R-Md.), who after the D.C. vote told The Washington
Post, “I will consider using all resources available to a
member of Congress to stop this action.” Although there is no
doubting Harris’s sincerity, says Jacob Sullum, those resources
probably will prove inadequate.

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