Marijuana Gifters Face Closure Under D.C. Council Bill, But Getting Medical Weed Would Be Easier

D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson has called for a vote next Tuesday on emergency legislation that would allow the city to close down virtually any business that gives gifts of marijuana starting in mid-May, while at the same time eliminating the need for a doctor’s recommendation for anyone seeking marijuana from the city’s medical dispensaries.

The bill revives a fight Mendelson unsuccessfully waged late last year, one that seeks to buttress the medical marijuana program while taking aim at the growing yet legally contested industry of stores and services that sell products ranging from art to motivational speeches and offers complementary “gifts” of marijuana.

Owners of medical marijuana dispensaries — which are legal, regulated, and taxed — have complained since last summer that they have lost customers and business to the gifting stores, which operate in a gray area of the law. Possessing, using, and growing small amounts of marijuana has been legal in D.C. since 2015, as has been giving it away. Creative entrepreneurs have used that gifting provision liberally, so much so that critics like Mendelson and some owners of medical dispensaries complain they are operating as shadow sellers of marijuana for recreational use. And those gifting businesses manage to avoid most of the regulations imposed on the medical side. [Read more at DCist]