The Obama administration believes marijuana policy is a states’ rights issue, the White House said Monday in opposing Republican led legislation that would prevent Washington, D.C., from using local funds to decriminalize marijuana possession.
The GOP-sponsored House amendment would prevent D.C. “from using its own local funds to carry out locally-passed marijuana policies, which again undermines the principles of States’ rights and of District home rule,” the White House said in a statement. The White House said the bill “poses legal challenges to the Metropolitan Police Department’s enforcement of all marijuana laws currently in force in the District.”
It’s been less than a year since the Justice Department decided not to sue Washington state and Colorado for legalizing and regulating recreational marijuana. Attorney General Eric Holder told The Huffington Post earlier this year that he was “cautiously optimistic” about legalization in Colorado, which began recreational sales Jan. 1. Washington state sales began this month.