Washington, DC, is home to 700,000-odd residents, more Americans than live in Wyoming or Vermont
ago Alan Amsterdam co-authored a ballot initiative that made it legal to own, use and grow marijuana in America’s capital. As an investor in the dope trade—the aptly-named Mr Amsterdam co-owns Capitol Hemp, a shop that flogs bongs and pipes—he had a strong private motive. The referendum passed, yet it remains illegal to sell weed in Washington.
The fact that Washingtonians are free to smoke marijuana but not buy it is a reflection of their peculiar political circumstance. Because America’s founders did not want a state government to exercise undue influence over the capital, they made the District of Columbia a federal jurisdiction. More than two centuries later its 700,000-odd residents—more Americans than live in Wyoming or Vermont—have no voting representation in Congress, and their city budget must be approved by congressmen.
It is also self-interested. Since District dwellers won the right to pick presidents they have plumped for Democrats by big margins. In 2016 Hillary Clinton took more than 90% ofto get its own congressmen and senators. Even if statehood did not require a constitutional amendment—which three-quarters of states would have to back—this meansUnited States
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