D.C. Marijuana Decriminalization Bill, Led By Marion Barry And Tommy Wells, To Be Introduced As Early As Summer

VOTE: Should D.C. Decriminalize Marijuana?
A man smokes a marijuana cigarrette in Montevideo on December 7, 2012. Lawmakers in Uruguay are studying a bill to legalize the cultivation of marijuana and allow limited personal consumption of it -- which if passed, will have authorities controlling its quality and the amount used. With the bill, which is supported by President Jose Mujica, the government wants to end drug-related violent crime which in recent years has emerged for the first time in this sleepy nation sandwiched between Argentina and Brazil. AFP PHOTO/Pablo PORCIUNCULA (Photo credit should read PABLO PORCIUNCULA/AFP/Getty Images)
A man smokes a marijuana cigarrette in Montevideo on December 7, 2012. Lawmakers in Uruguay are studying a bill to legalize the cultivation of marijuana and allow limited personal consumption of it -- which if passed, will have authorities controlling its quality and the amount used. With the bill, which is supported by President Jose Mujica, the government wants to end drug-related violent crime which in recent years has emerged for the first time in this sleepy nation sandwiched between Argentina and Brazil. AFP PHOTO/Pablo PORCIUNCULA (Photo credit should read PABLO PORCIUNCULA/AFP/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON -- The fight to decriminalize marijuana possession in Washington, D.C., just got an unlikely ally: former mayor and current city councilman Marion Barry (D-Ward 8).

Barry and fellow council member Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6) are drafting legislation that would reduce or eliminate criminal penalties for people caught with small amounts of marijuana.

“It’s time we enter the 21st century and stop criminalizing people... for what is not really a major crime," Wells told The Washington Post.

Council chairman Phil Mendelson, however, doesn't believe Congress would approve a pot decriminalization bill in the nation's capital.

The Post reports the bill to decriminalize marijuana in D.C. could be introduced by summer.

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