A bill recently sent to Mayor Bowser allows medical marijuana patients in Washington, D.C. to submit their products directly to laboratories for testing. Regulators can also issue temporary cannabis patient identification cards to non-residents, which will last up to one year.
Sponsored by D.C. Council Chair Phil Mendelson and Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie, the legislation would also expand who can qualify for a social equity cannabis license applicant. The bill was sent late last month to Mayor Muriel (D), and she must act by October 11th.
The District of Columbia’s medical marijuana program has evolved over time. Its lawmakers have been unable to implement a regulated market for adult-use cannabis, despite the fact that voters approved its broad legalization.
A law was passed last year that allowed residents to self-certify themselves as medical marijuana patients. This led to an increase in registrations. was followed by a reform for non-residents to self-certify.
The new bill states that non-residents can apply for an registration which is valid for up to a year. The non-resident self certification only allows registrations for 30 days.
Cannabis testing is also a novel component of the measure. The measure’s cannabis testing components are also novel.
Cannabis cultivators and producers would also be able submit their own samples, “for the purposes of quality assurance and research and development.”
The bill would also allow the Alcoholic Beverage & Cannabis Administration to grant conditional licenses for testing facilities and waive the application fees.
The measure would revise and expand the definition of social justice. A person could qualify for a marijuana social equity license if a non-parent legal caregiver, grandparent, or sibling was arrested, convicted, or imprisoned for a drug crime.
The current eligibility requirement states that a D.C. Resident must meet two out of three criteria, which includes being “married, in a Civil Union with, having a child with, being the child of someone, or having a legal guardian who is not a parent, and is incarcerated or has been for a drug or cannabis related offense.”
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All these reforms have the effect of circumventing the congressional spending bill rider which prevents D.C. using local tax dollars for a system of controlled, adult-use marijuana sales. Instead, the District gradually increases access to the city’s existing medical marijuana program.
The same language was included in the House appropriation bills approved this summer.
The budget request for Fiscal Year 2024 that President Joe Biden released in March also maintained the D.C. Rider for the third consecutive year.
In July, a law in D.C. went into effect that prohibits private employers from firing employees or punishing them for using marijuana during non-work time.
This reform aims to extend a measure previously approved by lawmakers to protect employees of local governments against discrimination in the workplace due to their use medical cannabis to include workers from private businesses.
A coalition of local and state advocacy groups requested the U.S. Attorney General last year adopt a formal policy of non-enforcement in order to allow the District of Columbia to legalize the sale of marijuana despite the continuing congressional ban.
According to a poll conducted last year, D.C. Voters strongly support marijuana legalization, and oppose any crackdown on a cannabis “gifting market” that has emerged due to the lack of regulated sales.
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