The number of arrests for dealing marijuana in Washington D.C. has returned to pre-legalization levels, according to statistics released by the Metropolitan Police Department. Residents of the nation’s capitol voted to make it legal to possess, grow, and share marijuana in 2014, but selling the drug remains a crime.
The Metropolitan Police arrested 220 people for dealing marijuana last year, more than double the number arrested in 2013, before any sort of legalization was even passed. Between January and April of this year, 78 people have been arrested for dealing. Some of these arrests were made by undercover cops buying $20 bags of weed in the city’s poorest neighborhoods.
Adam Eidinger, co-founder of the D.C. Cannabis Campaign, said that the increase in arrests is not surprising. “There’s a hefty demand, the medical program has a high barrier and we don’t have stores,” he said. “Until we have stores, this is something police – if they want to – can pursue and get lots and lots of arrests.”
Arrests for distribution of marijuana remained at a record low in the two years following legalization, which Eidinger believes was due to the popularity of legalization…