Eleanor Holmes Norton on Marijuana: ‘De Facto Legal for Most Americans’

Del. Holmes Norton on Marijuana: ‘De Facto Legal for Most Americans' (CNS News)

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-District of Columbia) defended D.C.’s new marijuana laws to lawmakers Wednesday saying that the drug “is de facto legal for most Americans.”

“The majority language in the appropriation bill said that the district couldn’t enact marijuana laws – the law was enacted,” Norton said on the House floor. “When approved by the voters there was nothing further to be done.”

“Small amounts of marijuana became legal in the district – smoked in private –on Thursday. D.C. has taken no further official action in compliance with the law,” Norton continued. “The most important impetus for passage by residents were two independent studies that show that virtually all of those who now carry marijuana convictions are young African-Americans, that was the last straw for a substance that is de facto legal for most Americans.”