Congress could negate last month’s vote in favor of marijuana legalization in D.C. Thursday as part of a bill that will fund the federal government until September.
Republicans and Democrats in the House of Representatives agreed on the bill Tuesday, which lawmakers must approve by midnight to avoid a government shutdown. Under the spending bill, D.C. will not be able to legalize marijuana or allow the city government to find a way to tax and regulate the drug, the Washington Post reported.
The initiative would have legalized possession of less than 2 ounces of marijuana and allowed home cultivation of up to three plants for those 21 and over. D.C. voters approved the measure by a 2:1 margin in the November elections.
Since D.C. is a federal district, the vote was subject to congressional approval, but city lawmakers had been optimistic that Congress would approve D.C.’s measure up until early this week.
Activists and city officials led protests Wednesday hoping to stop the budget deal from passing, including a sit-in at Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s, D-Nev., office, which lasted about two hours.