Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., surprised the House Oversight and Government Reform Friday morning when he brought a rolled marijuana cigarette to a congressional hearing on the decriminalization of the drug in the District of Columbia.
“I have this joint here,” the Florida congressman said. “OK, now, don’t get too excited. This is not a real one. It is a mock one.”
The congressman held up a list of penalties for marijuana and told his audience that he was submitting the list “to the record,” but not his “faux joint.”
Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) is heard off-microphone asking Mica: “Did you roll that?”
Mica responded: “I had staff do it.”
The hearing audience erupted with laughter.”They have more experience,” the congresman quipped.
DC Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton gasped and laughed: “Ohhh!”
Congressman Mica set down the joint and continued on a more serious note: “All kidding aside, Ms. Norton, there are very serious implications into what step the District has taken.”
In March, DC Mayor Vincent Gray signed a bill decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of pot, but DC’s pot law cannot take effect until after a review by Congress.