Boycott of Maryland's 1st District

The Boycott of Maryland's 1st District (also known as the Boycott of Ocean City and Boycott of the Eastern Shore) is a boycott of the 1st Congressional District of Maryland in response to 2014 congressional legislation that interfered with the ability of the District of Columbia to pass its own laws. The boycott was prompted by an appropriation amendment by Maryland Representative Andy Harris that would nullify DC laws on marijuana decriminalization.

In March 2014, the D.C. Council voted overwhelmingly to eliminate jail time for possession of marijuana, calling it necessary to combat deep racial disparities in drug arrests in the city. In a January 2014 poll by The Washington Post, roughly eight in 10 city residents supported legalizing or decriminalizing marijuana.

On June 25, 2014, House Republicans blocked funding for the D.C. law. The effort to keep the District from loosening its marijuana laws was led by Andy Harris, a Republican in Congress representing Maryland's 1st District which includes the Eastern Shore and Ocean City. The Harris amendment bans the D.C. government from spending any funds on efforts to lessen penalties for Schedule I federal drug crimes. Once enacted, the measure will interfere with DC's decriminalization law and a possible legalization ballot initiative.

Appropriations riders are a strategy frequently used to block unfavorable local legislation. It took a decade for medical marijuana backers to remove a rider preventing the District from moving forward with the system. DC currently lacks voting representation in Congress and all locally passed laws must be sent to Congress for review and approval.

In February 2015, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser implemented the popular legislation legalizing possession of marijuana. Harris said if one of his fellow Republicans captures the White House in 2016, he hopes they revisit Bowser's actions and prosecute her.

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