Checkmate: D.C. hits gray market cannabis with kill shot
Washington, D.C. is home to the famed White House, the Kennedy Center, and some of the most interesting cannabis nuances in the U.S. The capital city legalized personal pot possession in small quantities in 2014, with the law going into effect the following calendar year. Despite the new law, no retail structure or regulations were put in place. Adult use sales have always been illegal, but a gift economy, commonly referred to as I-71 shops, steadily grew until action from the city council this year.
Those who visit the cannabis these dispensaries in D.C. don’t purchase any weed. They buy a sweatshirt, sticker, or other item and are “gifted” cannabis products as a result of the transaction. People are getting weed, and stores are getting money, but there’s technically one transitive product from an illegal sale.
Medical cannabis is legal in the state after a decades-long saga, including delayed and ultimately overturned voter-improved initiatives. Legal medical cannabis sales have been happening in D.C. since 2013, but not adult-use sales. This year, the City Council has clarified that the adult-use gifting economy falls under the latter.
Legal weed defined in D.C.
The D.C. City Council issued a cease and desist to four unlicensed dispensaries following months of putting pressure on I-71 shops. In January 2024, the Medical Cannabis Program Enforcement Temporary Amendment Act became law. This legislation explicitly stated that I-71 shops are not compliant with the 2014 law legalizing small-scale possession.
The law also amended the Medical Cannabis Act of 2022, granting the Alcoholic Beverage and Cannabis Board (ABCB) authority to persecute commercial property owners renting to unlicensed operations. Things officially heated up in a double hit come spring.
Last spring, zoning guidelines changed. Come June, a City Council resolution passed–both targeted shops selling cannabis without a license. The resolution declared that the 25-year-old medical cannabis law needed updating and extended conditional licenses for shops that needed to move due to the new zoning requirements.
The resolution also clarified that the ABCB could conduct unannounced inspections of unlicensed dispensaries and padlock those deemed worth closure. Reasons for shutting down establishments include people unlawfully carrying firearms, distribution of Schedule 1 substances (like weed), and violent crimes on the premises.
It seems the days of gifting weed in D.C. are coming to a close, but medical patients will still have access to their preferred products. Weed is a gift, after all–just not like that.
