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With cannabis slowly reaching legal status in more states, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton said that it could provide an educational opportunity to display different plants at the garden in the Capitol.
Currently, 22 states and Washington, DC have legalized recreational marijuana.
Norton’s call to the House comes on the heels of the Botanic Garden beginning to display hemp for the first time, a move the Congresswoman previously supported.
“As individual states and the country as a whole are moving toward the legalization of marijuana, having a display with male and female marijuana plants would be a historic opportunity to highlight the impact of marijuana on American society,” she wrote to Susan Pell, the Executive Director of the Botanic Garden. “Especially, the American economy,”
Legalized marijuana sales collected an estimated 20 percent more in taxes on retail marijuana sales than on the sale of alcohol products in 2021, according to statistics provided by the House.
Cannabis sales are projected to reach approximately $33.6 billion by the end of the year and as much as $53.5 billion by 2027, continuing to outpace booze sales.
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