Biden Again Keeps Ban On Recreational Marijuana Sales In D.C. In His Budget
Biden included what’s come to be known as the Harris Rider in the budget
President Joe Biden is again proposing that the ban on legalizing the sale of recreational marijuana continues in D.C., another setback for local officials and advocates who celebrated Democratic control of the White House and Congress as a sign that the six-year-old prohibition would eventually be lifted.
Biden included what’s come to be known as the Harris Rider in his proposed $5.8 trillion budget for 2023, unveiled on Monday, just as he did in his proposed budget for 2022 last year.
Named after sponsor Rep. Andy Harris (R-Maryland), the provision was inserted into the federal budget in 2015 and has since made it impossible for D.C. officials to pass a bill that would legalize marijuana sales. (While possession, use, home cultivation, and gifting of marijuana were legalized by D.C. voters in 2014, sales were not.)
The proposal from the president follows a related disappointment for marijuana advocates earlier this month, when Congress passed a spending bill that kept the Harris Rider in place until at least September. It also means that D.C.’s window for moving to legalize sales — which Mayor Muriel Bowser and a majority of the D.C. Council say they want to do — is fast closing, especially if Republicans were to take control of either the House or Senate after the midterm elections.
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