Editor’s note: this article originally appeared in The Outlaw Report, and has been republished with permission.
The first medical dispensaries transitioning from unlicensed operators to the legal market were given licenses to open on Mar. 27, 2024.
The three stores (Green Theory, Wishing Wellness, Don Fuego) are the first to complete the transition process from I-71 gifting stores to legal medical dispensaries. One current medical license also received a license to open a new retail store in Chinatown.
D.C.’s efforts to establish an adult-use market have been stymied for almost a decade by the Harris Rider in the federal spending bill which prevents the District from using tax dollars to set up a legal market.
I-71 gifting stores proliferated across D.C. since the I-71 amendment went into effect in 2015. I-71 allowed the gifting of small amounts of cannabis between people without exchange of money. However, businesses used it as a loophole to sell weed by charging high prices for inexpensive items and gifting THC-products alongside.
Stores exploded around D.C. into the hundreds, sometimes dotting street corners right next to each other. The Medical Cannabis Amendment Act of 2022 established a process to fold these gray market stores into a legal market expansion. The stores had 90 days to apply for a legal license, but just over 70 stores submitted applications to ABCA this winter.
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