DC residents — who voted to legalize marijuana in 2014 — could finally buy and sell the drug legally if Democrats win back the House on Tuesday, even while the federal government continues to deem that all marijuana sales are illegal.



That's because handing power back to Democratic leadership could end a three-year-old Republican rule that blocks marijuana sales in the nation's capital. Growing a few plants and possessing a couple ounces of pot is allowed under a city initiative, but a federal spending amendment pushed repeatedly by Republican Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland prevents Washington, DC, from pursuing any further efforts at legalization.

The amendment has put DC in a bizarre spot, in which possession is legal but sales are not. Vendors and delivery services sell knick knacks and food — say, a dozen cookies for $60— and the buyers are “gifted” with a bag of “free” cannabis. And the district has no power to regulate sales or tax them.

If Democrats take control of the House, and, in turn, run the appropriations committee, that could all change.

Drew Hammill, a spokesperson for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who would likely become the House Speaker, told BuzzFeed News, “Leader Pelosi has long supported home rule for the District of Columbia, and she opposes the Harris rider since it violates that important principle.”

Likewise, Rep. Mike Quigley, the top Democrat on the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Subcommittee, which oversees DC funding, is ready to toss the anti-weed rule.