Court says D.C. has right to vote on medical marijuana

Also, Maryland and Vermont houses pass bills that would remove criminal penalties for patients using pot for medical reasons.

By Tanya Albert, AMNews staff. April 22/29, 2002.

Washington, D.C., residents may get another chance to vote on whether they want to decriminalize the medical use of marijuana.

The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia recently ruled that Congress' attempt to stop district residents from voting on the issue is unconstitutional.

Congress, which appropriates the money the district uses to run elections, passed an act that said the funds couldn't be used to "enact or carry out any law, rule or regulation to legalize or otherwise reduce penalties" for schedule I narcotics, including marijuana. But the court said that measure hinders political expression and thus infringes on voters' First Amendment rights.

"It's the equivalent of saying we can have elections in D.C., but we can only elect Republicans," said Rob Kampia, Marijuana Policy Project's executive director. "We plan to hit the streets at the end of May to gather the 16,000 signatures we need to get on the November ballot."

At press time, the federal government had not decided whether it would appeal the court decision.

Marijuana Policy Project joined with a physician and a patient with multiple sclerosis to challenge the District of Columbia Board of Elections and Ethics and others on the constitutionality of Congress' authority to decide on which issues district voters could cast their opinions.

The Medical Society of the District of Columbia does not have an official position on medical marijuana, but when a referendum went to district voters in 1998, the group said it opposed the issue being decided by referendum. The society also said it did not approve of the federal government interfering with Washington, D.C.'s ability to self-govern. [...]