After a period of congressional review, a bill from Washington, D.C. that made fundamental changes to the national capital’s medical marijuana program became law Wednesday.
This measure will include reforms like removing cannabis business licensing caps and providing tax relief for operators, furthering social equity, and creating new regulated businesses categories such as on site consumption facilities and cannabis-cooking classes.
It allows current “gifting” sellers of non-cannabis products in exchange for licensed marijuana products. This also empowers officials to clamp down on illegal operators.
The legislation was passed by the D.C. Council from Chairman Phil Mendelson in December and signed Mayor Muriel bowser in January. It was then sent to Congress for review. However, Congress chose to not overturn the legislation as it had been passed in the District of Columbia.
The Medical Cannabis Amendment Act also codifies that adult patients can self-certify to be medical marijuana patients. This reform is even more important since congressional legislators passed an appropriations package which maintains a controversial rider that blocks the District‘s ability to implement a system for regulated, adult use cannabis commerce despite both the House and Senate having excluded this rider in their earlier funding legislation.
D.C. legislators filed a bill to legalize marijuana sales in January despite that rider. The congressional rider did not prevent officials from taking procedural steps to preparefor the eventual reform. A federal oversight agency found last year.
Concerning the newly enacted expansion of medical cannabis, although the original legislation suggested a higher limit on dispensaries than what is permitted under current law, the revised version did not include a cap. However, it allows regulators to place caps or moratoriums “on issuance of cultivation center licenses, retailers licenses, or internet retailer licenses.”
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An additional amendment was passed prior to passage. It concerns enforcement actions regulators will have the authority to take against unlicensed marijuana producers, including those who use the District’s “gifting” policy to bypass regulations.
As the bill moved through Council committees, the timeline for enforcement action has changed. The original version required regulators to wait 180-days. The last version, which significantly shortened the window to 30 day, and now the legislation that says enforcement action cannot be taken until at least 315 calendar days after the bill was enacted, have been in place.
Unlicensed businesses now have 60-90 days to apply for a license. Additionally, unlicensed companies can apply for cultivation center licenses. Additional amendments were made to the bill to allow applicants to appeal rejections of licenses.
The legislation includes language that states that marijuana businesses can deduct taxes from local statutes that are prohibited under federal Internal Revenue Services code 280E.
As signed, the law makes permanent a temporary policy of self-certification that has been in effect for a year. This allows adults aged 21 and over to purchase medical marijuana from dispensaries. The current, short-term law signed by the mayor last year has seen an increase in patient registrations for medical marijuana.
This legislation promotes social equity in the sector by prioritizing business licences for those who have been disproportionately affected by the drug war. Nevertheless, the relevant provisions were also revised during its legislative journey.
Initially, the measure required that 50 percent of certain licences be reserved for equity applicants and current medical cannabis operators in perpetuity. The amended version previously required that 100 percent be reserved for these groups for a specified number of years depending on the type of license.
It has been enacted into law. The 50 percent requirement is still in effect. Social equity applicants will be able to apply for “all new retailers, internet retailers, couriers, cultivation centers, and manufacturer” licenses. New licensees must be available to regulators by May 1, 2023.
Under one provision from Mendelson, existing medical cannabis cultivation centres and dispensaries can be vertically integrated.
Further, the proposal calls for the creation a new category of licenses for internet retailers who would be able sell marijuana without a physical shopfront.
The legislation also changes the name of the Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration to Alcoholic Beverage and Cannabis Administration.
Many advocates welcome the legislative efforts to expand cannabis accessibility in the District. However, they continue to push for an end of the federal blockade that has prevented D.C. establishing a market despite the fact that voters approved an initiative to legalize personal cultivation and possession in 2014.
However, that effort was unsuccessful for the 2023 Fiscal Year. Congress passed a final spending agreement before the new session, which keeps the rider even though both House and Senate had left it out of their respective versions last year.
In October, President Joe Biden pardoned Americans who had committed federal marijuana possession offenses as well as those who violated D.C. law. U.S. Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-DC, asked the president to go further and legalize cannabis federally. The District could also establish a cannabis market and grant clemency by itself.
According to the congresswoman, the “shocking violation” of D.C. home rules by a Democratic administration is the continuing local ban that was maintained during Biden’s first three budget proposal.
A coalition of national, state and local advocacy organizations asked the U.S. Attorney General to adopt a policy to non-enforcement in order to allow the District legalize marijuana sales despite the congressional ban.
In September, a poll found that D.C. A September poll found that D.C. voters support legalization of marijuana and reject any crackdown on “gifting” markets for cannabis that have emerged in the absence regulated sales.
Bowser, Norton, and other elected officials from the city have repeatedly criticized Congress for excluding the District and denying it the ability to do what a growing amount of states have done without federal interference.
Marijuana Moment was contacted by Norton in July to discuss her optimism that the rider would be excluded from the final spending package. She said that until then, the D.C. self certification policy was an “effective workaround”.
The mayor also signed a July bill that prohibits most workplaces’ firing or punishing employees for using marijuana.
This reform builds on an earlier measure that lawmakers had approved to protect local government workers against workplace discrimination based on their use of medicinal cannabis.
This month, Congress approved another D.C. measure. It contains an amendment to automatically erase marijuana possession records from offenses that occurred before the District enacted a limited cannabis law in 2014.
This is despite Biden and federal legislators’ separate moves to overrule another local measure to substantially revise the jurisdiction’s criminal code. This action was criticized by statehood advocates.
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