In the years since DC residents voted to legalize marijuana via Initiative 71, the District has struggled to establish a functioning market for recreational weed. But even though local leaders pushed through reforms to enable the sale of weed, Congress has maintained its oversight of the city’s budget with the notorious “Harris rider,” preventing DC from collecting taxes on marijuana or allowing it to be sold for consumption outside of the medical program.

Are dispensaries cash only in DC?

The problem isn’t just that recreational weed remains unobtainable, but that people are getting into trouble by trying to circumvent the law. For instance, the owner of a Dupont Circle apartment building discovered that someone had created a Google Maps listing identifying her address as a marijuana dispensary. When she called the phone number listed, a man who answered identified himself as the manager of a marketing company. URL : https://highthere.me/initiative-71-how-does-it-impact-marijuana-delivery/

Then there are the issues that arise when people try to use weed in public. The Metropolitan Police Department makes clear that public consumption remains illegal in the District, and federal employees (including Metro workers) are barred from consuming pot at work or on federal land. And while the District decriminalized marijuana possession in 2018, it continues to ban smoking in private spaces. The only solution for some residents is to buy weed from an unofficial gray market vendor. Several groups, including the I-71 Committee and Generational Equity Movement, are working to legitimize these vendors by bringing them into the legal cannabis market.