Statement of Aurélie Mathieu, Assistant Attorney General for Policy and Legislative Affairs, Office of Attorney General for the District of Columbia

Before the Committee of the Whole Committee on Business and Economic Development, Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety

The Honorable Phil Mendelson, Chairman

The Honorable Kenyan Mcduffie, Chair

The Honorable Charles Allen, Chair

Public Hearing on​ Bill 24-0118, the “Comprehensive Cannabis Legalization and Regulation Act of 2021” and Bill 24-113, the “Medical Cannabis Amendment Act of 2021”

Friday, November 19, 2021

Greetings Chairman Mendelson, Councilmembers, staff, and residents of the District of Columbia. My name is Aurélie Mathieu and I have the privilege of serving as Assistant Attorney General for Policy and Legislative Affairs at the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia (OAG). I am pleased to appear before the Committee of the Whole, the Committee on Business and Economic Development, and the Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety on behalf of Attorney General Karl A. Racine to testify in support of Bill 24-0118, the “Comprehensive Cannabis Legalization and Regulation Act of 2021”  

As the Council well knows, in 2014, after District residents voted overwhelmingly in favor of it, the Council passed legislation permitting individuals in the District to possess, grow and use small amounts of cannabis in their homes. However, because the District lacks statehood, Congress has control over how the District spends its own money. And so, after the legislation passed, Congress included in its budget act, and every subsequent budget act, a rider that prevents the District from regulating or further legalizing cannabis.

This Congressional action has prevented the District from regulating the sale of cannabis to ensure the product being sold is safe and transactions are secure; from addressing “gray markets” and protecting public safety; from taxing cannabis sales, depriving the District of an important funding stream; and from creating a cannabis market that is inclusive and remedial to communities that have been hurt the most by the war on drugs. Finally, it appears Congress is poised to pass a budget act that does not include the rider, providing the District with the opportunity to enact a legalization, taxation, and regulatory scheme that reflects the will of our residents.

I commend Chairman Mendelson and his team for the thorough, thoughtful, and comprehensive legislation that incorporates best practices from other states, and for holding this hearing to receive input from community members. I also want to thank Judiciary and Public Safety Chair Allen, Chair Pro Tempore McDuffie, other Councilmembers, and the public; especially, groups that support opportunities for returning citizens for all the work they have done to bring us to this moment.  

I want to emphasize that the process of moving forward with the regulation of a new industry is not static. Therefore, the Council must be prepared to swiftly make adjustments as well as to continue to survey the best practices that have been developed in jurisdictions that have already moved forward with a regulatory framework. Together, we can build on this important work so that, when the District finally is able to set up a legalized market for cannabis, the District will be positioned to enact effective legislation that protects public safety and addresses racial inequities.

1. Remedying the injustices stemming from the over-criminalization of cannabis.

Racial disparities in the enforcement of cannabis laws, and the accompanying harms to minority communities, have been well documented, but are often not sufficiently addressed. As we work towards establishing a legal adult recreational market for cannabis, one of our over-arching goals must be to ensure that the communities of color who were most harmed by the War on Drugs have ready access to the plethora of opportunities that a legal recreational regime affords. The system we enact should strive to address as many of the traumatic harms that minority communities have suffered because of cannabis prohibition and over-criminalization. Therefore, the primary goals must be (1) reducing barriers to entry for minority-owned businesses, and (2) remedying injustices stemming from the over-criminalization of cannabis. This bill includes important and thoughtful provisions designed to advance these goals.

First, the bill includes a Social Equity Applicant Program, under which at least half of all cannabis-business licenses would be set aside for residents who have been convicted of cannabis-related offenses or have lived ten of the last twenty years in areas with high rates of poverty, unemployment, and cannabis-related arrests. Thirty percent of tax revenues from the sale of cannabis would be deposited into a Cannabis Equity and Opportunity Fund to provide loans, grants, and technical assistance to these applicants, providing real opportunities for those most harmed by past policies to benefit from the now-legal market.

Next, the bill includes a community reinvestment program for communities most impacted by the War on Drugs. Fifty percent of tax revenues from the sale of cannabis would be deposited into a Community Reinvestment Program Fund, which would be used to provide grants to community-based organizations working on economic development, homeless prevention, support for returning citizens, mental health and substance use treatment, and civil legal aid in areas with high levels of gun violence, unemployment, or child poverty. Importantly, those community reinvestment grants would be overseen by a board that includes community members and people who were formerly incarcerated.

The bill also importantly requires the automatic expungement of D.C. Code cannabis-related arrests and convictions, and provides an opportunity for people currently incarcerated for cannabis related offenses to have their sentence modified, vacated, or set aside. The Council should consider adding a deadline for the processing of automatic expungements, as modeled by legislation passed in Virginia and Illinois. Because expungement is a critical aspect of reform, we should ensure that it is implemented without delay.  

The Council also should consider including in the bill provisions for the licensing of consumption spaces. The genuine concerns that neighbors, residents - including seniors - have that legalization will expose them to cannabis smoke in their living spaces, must be heard. This is important, because, while studies show that cannabis use is equally prevalent among Blacks and whites, in the four years after possession of cannabis was legalized in the District, 84 percent of more than 900 people arrested for public consumption in the District were Black. If people who live in rental or public housing or who have no permanent housing do not have a legal place to consume cannabis, they disproportionately risk eviction or criminalization for public consumption. The existence of spaces in which it is legal to consume cannabis could help address this inequity.

2. Protecting Public Health, in particular the health of children

Our adult-use cannabis market must be just that—an adult use market.  It also must protect public safety by tamping down underground and gray markets and ensuring revenues are used to address some of the potential harms of substance use. This bill includes important provisions to promote public health, protect legitimate markets against un-regulated and untaxed markets, address substance abuse issues, and protect children.

Of course, this bill continues to prohibit the use of cannabis by people under 21 and prohibits the sale of cannabis to people under 21. The bill also prohibits methods of marketing that are geared toward children. For example, advertisements may not include animals, cartoon characters, or other images particularly appealing to children and adolescents; depict someone who is or appears to be under 21 consuming cannabis; or promote excessive consumption. And radio or television advertisements can only run when the audience is mostly adults. The bill also creates a public education campaign, including on the effects and potentials risks associated with each method or cannabis use, the health effects of cannabis use, and responsible use and harm reduction strategies. And it addresses gray markets by setting up licensing and enforcement mechanisms, and clarifying that it is unlawful to give cannabis for free to a person in exchange for their purchasing another item or service or making a donation, or paying a cover charge for a party or event.

3. Continued Developments

Finally, given the nascent nature of the cannabis market, our cannabis policy must be nimble, and capable of adapting effectively to lessons learned here in the District and other jurisdictions, and to ensure we are accomplishing our goal of establishing an inclusive and opportunity-rich cannabis market that protects public safety. To address this need, this bill establishes a Marijuana Advisory Committee that will actively review the development of the industry with a clear eye toward making necessary changes that comport with the best practices that emerge in the laboratories of the states that have already legalized recreational cannabis. It will include my office, and I thank the Council for including the Office of the Attorney General in this important work. Importantly, the Committee also will include people from disproportionately impacted areas of the District, experts in criminal justice reform and racial and economic justice, and the Public Defender Service. I urge the Council to specifically include on the Committee someone who entered the criminal justice system as a result of a cannabis-related offense.

Conclusion

I am grateful to the work of the Council on this issue. The District will be well-situated to implement an effective cannabis regulatory and taxation framework immediately after passage of a budget bill that respects the autonomy of the District on this issue. I believe this bill represents a thoughtful and effective measure to ensure the District’s cannabis policy protects public safety, promotes District interests, and meaningfully address decades of racially inequitable cannabis policy and policing. I look forward to working with the Council and all stakeholders to develop ideas to refine the bill, as necessary, as it moves towards passage by this Council. We will continue our review of the legislation and submit additional comments in the pursuit of establishing a robust regulated recreational cannabis market. I appreciate the opportunity to testify in support of this important bill and am happy to answer any questions that members may have.