Today in Washington, DC, At Large City Councilman David Grosso (I) will introduce legislation before the District of Columbia City Council that seeks to eliminate all criminal and civil penalties for possessing small amounts of cannabis by adults over the age of 21, provide the DC Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration with the authority to license and regulate the production and taxable sale of cannabis, and to seal the criminal records for those previously charged with cannabis-related crimes.

The introduction of this legislation proceeds a summer of an ACLU report on the disproportionate number of minorities arrested in the highest in the country per capita cannabis arrest region, a DPA/MPP-funded survey of DC residents supporting legalizing cannabis at 60%, the introduction of a cannabis decriminalization bill by Councilman Tommy Wells (which ten of twelve council members have co-signed) and finally with the Department of Justice memo issued a few weeks ago allowing states greater policy making autonomy regarding developing tolerant and forward-looking cannabis policies at the state level.

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