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A RESOLUTION
25-408
IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
January 9, 2024
To declare the existence of an emergency with respect to the need to amend, on an emergency
basis, the Legalization of Marijuana for Medical Treatment Initiative of 1999 to provide
the Alcoholic Beverage and Cannabis Administration the ability to extend the 45-
calendar day public comment period for cultivation center, retailer, or internet retailer
licenses to an unlicensed establishment by an additional 30-calendar days, to clarify
which persons have standing to protest the issuance of a cultivation center, retailer, or
internet retailer license to an unlicensed establishment, to align the enforcement
procedures with those provided in Title 25 of the District of Columbia Official Code, and
to clarify that the Alcoholic Beverage and Cannabis Board has the authority to issue
cease-and-desist orders mandating compliance with the provisions of the Medical
Cannabis Program; and to amend the Medical Cannabis Amendment Act of 2022 to
clarify that the Alcoholic Beverage and Cannabis Board has authority to enforce against
commercial property owners in whose properties are used to operate illegal cannabis
businesses.
RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, That this
resolution may be cited as the “Medical Cannabis Program Enforcement Emergency Declaration
Resolution of 2024”.
Sec. 2. (a) On December 3, 2014, District voters passed the Legalization of Possession of
Minimal Amounts of Marijuana for Personal Use Initiative of 2014, effective February 26, 2015
(D.C. Law 20-153; D.C. Official Code passim) (“I-71”), which, among other provisions, made it
lawful to transfer one ounce or less of cannabis to another person so long as no remuneration is
exchanged and the recipient of the cannabis is 21 years of age or older. The selling of any
amount of cannabis to another person remains illegal.
(b) The passage of I-71 has resulted in the creation of an illegal cannabis market in the
District that describes itself as “I-71 compliant,” whereby consumers merely need to buy a small
item and, in return, receive an accompanying cannabis product as a “gift.” This illegal cannabis
market is estimated to take in more than $600 million in sales annually and has been in direct
competition with and accordingly, profoundly harmed the District’s Medical Cannabis Program.
Furthermore, these illegal businesses do not pay the taxes and fees that licensed facilities under ENROLLED ORIGINAL
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the Medical Cannabis Program must pay and most are owned by non-District residents and sell
products that are untraced, untested, and mostly cultivated outside the District.
(c) The presence of these illegal businesses also raises serious public health and safety
concerns. Some of these establishments are located in areas in which legal facilities are not
allowed to operate, such as within 300 feet of schools and recreation facilities. These businesses
have also been the target of criminal activity, such as robbery and theft, and some have been
implicated in criminal activity themselves, including illegal possession of firearms and illegal
possession and distribution of narcotics.
(d) On December 20, 2022, the Council passed the Medical Cannabis Amendment Act of
2022, effective March 22, 2023 (D.C. Law 24-332; 70 DCR 1582), which established an on-
ramp for these currently unlicensed businesses to receive a license from the Alcoholic Beverage
and Cannabis Administration (“ABCA”). This on-ramp is intended to provide greater public
health and safety oversight of the businesses, like how existing medical cannabis and alcohol
licensees are regulated. The open application period for these businesses to apply for a license to
be a cultivation center, retailer, or internet retailer in the District’s Medical Cannabis Program
opened on November 1, 2023, and will close on January 29, 2024.
(e) With the open application period now underway and Advisory Neighborhood
Commissions (“ANCs”) receiving notices of applications and providing comments, several
implementation issues have come to the forefront.
(f) First, it is unclear which entities or persons have standing to protest the issuance of a
license to a currently unlicensed establishment. For example, under current law, different ANCs
that are miles apart from each other and within the same Ward could protest the same
prospective licensee and reach different settlement agreements.
(g) Second, the enforcement scheme has some glaring deficiencies. The statutory
framework for the Medical Cannabis Program does not clearly state the enforcement powers that
ABCA or the ABC Board has under Title 25 of the District of Columbia Official Code.
Furthermore; and most troubling, the statutory framework for the Medical Cannabis Program
does not clearly provide ABCA with the authority to enforce the provisions of the Medical
Cannabis Program against those unlicensed establishments that choose not to become licensed
establishments. Without this authority, the purpose and intent of creating the on-ramp for
unlicensed establishments would be meaningless, as they could continue to operate outside of
ABCA’s regulatory structure.
(h) Third, concerns have been raised about the ability of the Department of Licensing and
Consumer Protection to issue fines against those commercial property owners in whose
properties illegal cannabis establishments are currently operating. ABCA would be the most
appropriate agency to issue fines because it would be empowered to investigate those
establishments that are operating outside the confines of the Medical Cannabis Program.
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Sec. 3. The Council determines that the circumstances enumerated in section 2 constitute
emergency circumstances making it necessary that the Medical Cannabis Program Enforcement
Emergency Amendment Act of 2024 be adopted after a single reading.
Sec. 4. This resolution shall take effect immediately.