The Nation: Hash in Washington

Has the quality of marijuana slipped lately? Too little kick in the kilo? Too much straw in the stash? The zillionth study commission, this one consisting of 38 eminent citizens of Washington, D.C., and put together by Mayor Walter E. Washington, seems to have a solution. Its proposal: Government regulation of the growth, processing and sale of the controversial weed.

Echoing many other such groups, Washington’s advisory committee concluded that marijuana alone is neither hazardous nor detrimental to physical or mental health, and its use should not be a criminal offense. But the commission went a long step further by suggesting Government supervision of production and marketing, ostensibly to keep it from the underworld. Mayor Washington, realistically appraising the mood on Capitol Hill, has no intention of asking Congress for enabling legislation.