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The D.C. Council unanimously passed emergency legislation on Tuesday that would empower city officials to penalize unlicensed marijuana gifting shops that have not applied to the city’s medical cannabis program. The bill, which takes near-immediate effect, would treat cannabis businesses similarly to how the city treats businesses with liquor licenses.
The council in 2022 expanded the city’s medical marijuana program to lift the cap on the number of dispensaries in the city and give gifting stores — which are retailers where anyone can buy, say, a sticker or t-shirt and be “gifted” weed — the opportunity to apply for a medical marijuana license. Lawmakers were trying to find a way to regulate an illicit “gray” market, one that D.C. has not been able to remedy largely due to congressional interference.
The law says gifting outlets that don’t apply for the program or meet its qualifications would be subject to civil enforcement. More than a year in, there is ambiguity over which government agency should deal with the businesses that continue to operate without a license, according to Ward 6 Councilmember Charles Allen. So Allen introduced emergency legislation that, among other things, authorizes the Alcohol Beverage and Cannabis Administration to issue warnings, fines, and cease-and-desist orders to unlicensed businesses that have not applied to the medical cannabis program.
Tamping down on gifters through steep fines can be controversial, even within the council, with people concerned about pushing the market further underground and unfairly punishing businesses owned by Black and brown locals — whose communities have historically been harmed by the war on drugs. But councilmembers are now willing to put teeth behind enforcement because they say the expanded medical cannabis program gives gifters a legal pathway to enter the market.
“This gap in the law, if not fixed, will render the onramp meaningless, allow unlicensed establishments that do not apply to keep on operating, and significantly harm the good actors that have applied,” Allen said during Tuesday’s legislative council meeting.
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D.C. Council Passes New Penalties For Unlicensed Cannabis Gifting Shops
