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 The hearing comes as Congress faces an end-of-the-month deadline
to quash a ballot initiative overwhelmingly approved by Washington
voters legalizing marijuana.
The finance, business and judiciary committees will hear testimony
on a bill that would let the city join the states of Washington and
Colorado in allowing the sale of marijuana for recreational use by
adults.
The Marijuana Legalization and Regulation Act of 2015 would legalize
the possession and sale of small amounts of marijuana for adults and
permit cultivation of up to six plants.
The measure sets out rules for the sale of marijuana and pot-infused
products. The District's liquor board will oversee regulation, and
tax revenues will go into a dedicated fund.
 Sixty-five percent of Washington voters approved a ballotmeasure,
Initiative 71, in November that made pot legal for recreational use.
But the measure faced opposition from congressional Republicans, who
included language in a December spending law that barred the city
from using any funds to legalize pot.
Congress has oversight of the District of Columbia, and a
congressional review period for Initiative 71 runs out at the end of
February.
Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Democrat, said after taking office last month
that her administration wanted both to work with Congress and to
have the will of Washington voters enforced.
Council Chairman Phil Mendelson has said that by March the city
would begin to treat Initiative 71 as law, which would in effect
legalize possession without any way to buy pot legally.
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Congress has used the review process only threetimes in 40 years to
overturn a District of Columbia law.
President Barack Obama also has taken a stance on Washington pot.
His fiscal 2016 budget leaves the District of Columbia free to spend
its own funds on legalization.
The city has one of the lightest U.S. penalties for potpossession,
although marijuana is illegal under federal law. Voters in Alaska
and Oregon last year also approved ballot measures allowing adult
recreational use of marijuana.
(Reporting by Ian Simpson)
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