Photo: Juanmonino - Getty Images
Marijuana in prescription container
The Council of the District of Columbia approved emergency legislation on Tuesday, June 28 to effectively create an adult-use marijuana market in the nation’s capital in defiance of Congress.
Due to the unique political status of Washington, D.C. under Congress, residents of the capital had been living under a political contradiction since 2014. Eight years ago, the District of Columbia legalized recreational marijuana and its commerce by licensed retailers through a successful ballot measure. However, Congress intervened and opposed the creation of a regulatory system for cannabis businesses by passing rider legislation on an omnibus spending bill targeting D.C.’s market. While medical dispensaries, possession and consumption of cannabis are legal, recreational pot shops are explicitly outlawed. This rider has been maintained by Congresses since 2014, including in the 2022 Democratic federal spending bill.
That is what the Council of the District of Columbia chose to address with its new resolution, which is effectively a middle finger to Congress’ meddling: It allows any resident 21 or older to self-certify as a medical marijuana patient and access the district's existing dispensary system.
“Patients will still be formally registered in the medical marijuana program, issued a patient identification number, and recorded in ABRA’s private and secure ‘Metrc’ track-and-trace system. While not a panacea to the issues facing our legal marijuana market, this emergency legislation provides a small amount of relief by increasing the ability of medical marijuana patients to access the legal and regulated medical market,” the resolution reads.
The resolution was approved unanimously, 13-0.
The Marijuana Gifting Market
Beyond allowing residents to access the product which they voted to legalize eight years ago, this resolution hopes to address the gray market of gifting marijuana alongside other purchases.
The city’s council is not the first to circumvent congressional obstruction. Some D.C. entrepreneurs had already established a trick to make legal marijuana accessible to the public without running afoul of Congress’ ban on marijuana sales. They started to sell other items and simply offer free marijuana as a gift with each sale. A customer might officially buy a t-shirt or a lighter and quietly receive weed alongside it.
Proposed legislation similar to the new successful resolution had been brought forth and rejected by the Council of the District of Columbia before. The reason was that it targeted these “gift shops,” driving them out of the market in favor of medical dispensaries. But these gift shops include many of the enterprises who will one day become legal recreational marijuana retail shops once Congress removes its ban. They also offer an avenue to obtaining marijuana legally for many residents, so the council did not wish to attack them.
“Instead of attempting to constrain the gray market, this legislation aims to expand access to the legal medical market for medical marijuana patients,” the resolution concludes on the matter. “Of note, where this legislation does result in medical marijuana patients choosing legal dispensaries over gifting shops, that shift should result in better health outcomes for patients due to those dispensaries selling only regulated marijuana products, which have a lower risk of contamination and higher rates of consistent labeling and potency compared to unregulated marijuana.”
Earlier this month, the Council of the District of Columbia also approved a bill granting workers’ protections for marijuana consumers, cementing itself as an agent for progress under the control of a much-less-progressive Congress.
