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Councilmember Charles Allen 2
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A PROPOSED RESOLUTION 6
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IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 11
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To declare the existence of an emergency with respect to the need to amend, on an emergency 16
basis, the Legalization of Marijuana for Medical Treatment Initiative of 1999 to provide 17
the Alcoholic Beverage and Cannabis Administration the ability to extend the 45-calendar 18
day public comment period for cultivation center, retailer, or internet retailer licenses to an 19
unlicensed establishment by an additional 30-calendar days, to clarify which persons have 20
standing to protest the issuance of a cultivation center, retailer, or internet retailer license 21
to an unlicensed establishment, to align the enforcement procedures with those provided in 22
Title 25 of the District of Columbia Official Code, and to clarify that the Alcoholic 23
Beverage and Cannabis Board has the authority to issue cease-and-desist orders mandating 24
compliance with the provisions of the Medical Cannabis Program; and to amend the 25
Medical Cannabis Amendment Act of 2022 to clarify that the Alcoholic Beverage and 26
Cannabis Board has authority to enforce against commercial property owners in whose 27
properties are used to operate illegal cannabis businesses. 28
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RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, That this 30
resolution may be cited as the “Medical Cannabis Program Enforcement Emergency Declaration 31
Resolution of 2024”. 32
Sec. 2. (a) On December 3, 2014, District voters passed the Legalization of Possession of 33
Minimal Amounts of Marijuana for Personal Use Initiative of 2014, effective February 26, 2015 34
(D.C. Law 20-153; D.C. Official Code passim) (“I-71”), which, among other provisions, made it 35
lawful to transfer one ounce or less of cannabis to another person, so long as no remuneration is 36
exchanged, and the recipient of the cannabis is 21 years of age or older. The selling of any amount 37
of cannabis to another person remains illegal. 38
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(b) The passage of I-71 has resulted in the creation of an illegal cannabis market in the 39
District that describes itself as “I-71 compliant”, whereby consumers merely need to buy a small 40
item and, in return, receive an accompanying cannabis product as a “gift”. This illegal cannabis 41
market is estimated to take in more than $600 million in sales annually, and has been in direct 42
competition with, and accordingly, has profoundly harmed, the District’s Medical Cannabis 43
Program. Furthermore, these illegal businesses do not pay the taxes and fees that licensed facilities 44
under the Medical Cannabis Program must pay, and most are owned by non-District residents and 45
sell products that are untraced, untested, and mostly cultivated outside the District. 46
(c) The presence of these illegal businesses also raises serious public health and safety 47
concerns. Some of these establishments are located in areas in which legal facilities are not allowed 48
to operate, such as within 300 feet of schools and recreation facilities. These businesses have also 49
been the target of criminal activity, such as robbery and theft, and some have been implicated in 50
criminal activity themselves, including illegal possession of firearms and illegal possession and 51
distribution of narcotics. 52
(d) On December 20, 2022, the Council passed the Medical Cannabis Amendment Act of 53
2022, effective March 22, 2023 (D.C. Law 24-332; 70 DCR 1582), which established an “on-54
ramp” for these currently unlicensed businesses to receive a license from the Alcoholic Beverage 55
and Cannabis Administration (“ABCA”). This “on-ramp” is intended to provide greater public 56
health and safety oversight of the businesses, like how existing medical cannabis and alcohol 57
licensees are regulated. The open application period for these businesses to apply for a license to 58
be a cultivation center, retailer, or internet retailer in the District’s Medical Cannabis Program 59
opened on November 1, 2023, and will close on January 29, 2024. 60
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(e) With the open application period now underway and Advisory Neighborhood 61
Commissions (“ANCs”) receiving notices of applications and providing comments, several 62
implementation issues have come to the forefront. 63
(f) First, it is unclear which entities or persons have standing to protest the issuance of a 64
license to a currently unlicensed establishment. For example, under current law, different ANCs 65
that are miles apart from each other and within the same Ward could protest the same prospective 66
licensee and reach different settlement agreements. 67
(g) Second, the enforcement scheme has some glaring deficiencies. The statutory 68
framework for the Medical Cannabis Program does not clearly state the enforcement powers that 69
ABCA or the ABC Board has under Title 25 of the District of Columbia Official Code. 70
Furthermore, and most troubling, the statutory framework for the Medical Cannabis Program does 71
not clearly provide ABCA with the authority to enforce the provisions of the Medical Cannabis 72
Program against those unlicensed establishments that choose not to become licensed 73
establishments. Without this authority, the purpose and intent of creating the on-ramp for 74
unlicensed establishments would be meaningless, as they could continue to operate outside of 75
ABCA’s regulatory structure. 76
(h) Third, concerns have been raised about the ability of the Department of Licensing and 77
Consumer Protection to issue fines against those commercial property owners in whose properties 78
illegal cannabis establishments are currently operating. ABCA would be the most appropriate 79
agency to issue fines because it would be empowered to investigate those establishments that are 80
operating outside the confines of the Medical Cannabis Program. 81
Sec. 3. The Council of the District of Columbia determines that the circumstances 82
enumerated in section 2 constitute emergency circumstances making it necessary that the Medical 83
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Cannabis Program Enforcement Emergency Amendment Act of 2024 be adopted after a single 84
reading. 85
Sec. 4. This resolution shall take effect immediately. 86