The chairman of the House Oversight Committee warned Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) that she could be put in jail for implementing a new law legalizing marijuana in the city.
“Federal law, signed by the president, confirms that D.C. cannot move forward. If they are under any illusion that this would be legal, they are wrong,” Chaffetz said in an interview with The Washington Post. “And there are very severe consequences for violating this provision. You can go to prison for this. We’re not playing a little game here.”
Chaffetz and Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC), the chairman of the Oversight Committee’s subcommittee on Government Operations, also wrote a letter warning Bowser that she would be violating the law if she moved forward with marijuana legalization plans.
“If you decide to move forward tomorrow with the legalization of marijuana in the District you will be doing so in knowing and willful violation of the law,” the two House Republicans wrote in the letter on Tuesday.
Bowser and Metropolitan Police Chief Cathy Lanier on Thursday said that the ballot initiative legalizing marijuana possession for as much as 2 ounces would go into effect at 12: 01 a.m. on Thursday. The initiative does not make it legal to smoke marijuana in public.
Read the letter, via The Washington Post, below:
Letter to d c Mayor Muriel Bowser Regarding
(H/t: The Hill)
