The mayor of Washington, D.C. has signed a bill to make fundamental changes to the medical marijuana program in the nation’s capital. That will involve eliminating cannabis business licensing caps, providing tax relief to operators, further promoting social equity and creating new regulated business categories such as on-site consumption facilities and cannabis cooking classes.
It will also provide a pathway for current “gifting” operators that sell non-cannabis items in exchange for “free” marijuana products to enter the licensed market, while empowering officials to crack down on those who continue to operate illegally.
The D.C. Council passed the legislation from Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) last month, and Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) signed it into law on Monday.
The Medical Cannabis Amendment Act further codifies that adults can self-certify as medical marijuana patients. That reform is all the more critical since congressional lawmakers passed an appropriations package that maintains a controversial rider blocking the District from implementing a system of regulated, adult-use cannabis commerce, despite the House and Senate having excluded it in their earlier versions.
In spite of that rider, D.C. lawmakers refiled a bill last week to legalize marijuana sales. A federal oversight agency determined last year that the congressional rider does
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