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The GW Hatchet

AN INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SERVING THE GW COMMUNITY SINCE 1904

The GW Hatchet

Serving the GW Community since 1904

The GW Hatchet

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D.C. Council passes permanent ban on marijuana clubs

D.C. legislators passed a ban on public marijuana clubs Tuesday, DCist reported Tuesday.

The D.C. Council passed the ban by one vote on its first reading. Seven council members voted in favor the ban, including chairman Phil Mendelson, Judiciary Committee chair Kenyan McDuffie from Ward 5 and Ward 3 Council member Mary Cheh, according to DCist.

City officials extended the marijuana ban in January at Mayor Muriel Bowser’s suggestion. The council voted to allow the clubs, but Bowser did not support the legislation because the city would not be able to regulate the clubs.

The decision comes after city officials set up a task force to look into the marijuana clubs. The task force will meet for the first time on Friday, DCist reported.

Ward 1 council member Brianne Nadeau is a member of the task force and called the ban “a a slap in the face,” according to DCist.

“This narrative that the permanent ban can be revisited is false as long as the (Congressional) rider is in place,” she told DCist. “A task force with a 120-day timeline is supposed to be planning for the present, not the future.”

McDuffie said the task force will still be relevant and the council will likely revisit marijuana clubs.

“Until we have that ability [to regulate], we should maintain the status quo,” Mendelson told DCist.

D.C. could make almost $100 million from taxing the sale of the drug by 2020, according to a study released earlier this year.

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