D. C. legalizes marijuana, sort of

As of 12:01 a.m. today, the possession of marijuana is legal in our nation’s capital.  But it’s still illegal to sell it.  So you can have it, but you can’t buy it.  The tangled new law, with its bureaucratic twists and turns, illustrates the dilemma of a state legalizing a substance (though the District of Columbia is not a state), while  federal law (which D. C. is mostly under) still outlaws it.

It seems to me that making the possession legal while the sale is  illegal takes away the only social good that legalization might do, namely, strike a blow against organized crime.  Colorado at least, for better or worse, created a private marijuana industry.  Washington, D.C., will continue to depend on Mexican cartels and drug smugglers for its supply.

See F.A.Q.’s:  Everything you need to know to stay out of jail when pot is legal in D.C. – The Washington Post.