New administration leaves many wondering what the future holds for cannabis policy in the District

President Donald Trump’s White House called the District’s cannabis decriminalization policy a “disaster that opened the door to disorder” in a fact sheet associated with his executive order issued on March 28, 2025. Yet, it is Congress and presidents, not the District, that are responsible for its failure to regulate cannabis. In 2014, D.C. voters legalized home grow and possession for adults, but the “Harris rider” in federal spending bills have prohibited the District from legalizing and regulating adult-use sales.

The president initially appointed Ed Martin as Interim U.S. Attorney for the District early in his administration. As Interim U.S. Attorney, he had threatened a medical cannabis dispensary for being too close to a school. D.C. law mandates a 300-foot buffer from a school, while federal law imposes drug-free school penalties for sales within 1,000 feet. Before Martin could further act on his threat, his nomination was rescinded for unrelated reasons. He was then appointed as the Department of Justice’s Pardon Attorney.

The District’s unique status as a federal district, not a state, leaves the federal government a tremendous amount of power to oversee the day-to-day operations. D.C voters approved medical cannabis back in 1998, but Congress barred implementation until 2009.

Mayor Bowser signs bill to expand D.C.’s medical cannabis program

On January 31, 2023, Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) signed legislation into law that significantly expanded the District’s medical cannabis program. The Medical Cannabis Amendment Act of 2022 eliminated cannabis business licensing caps, provided tax relief to operators, further promoted social equity, and created new regulated business categories such as on-site consumption facilities.

Additionally, the legislation makes provisions permanent allowing D.C. residents 21 and older to self-certify as medical cannabis patients. This allows adults to buy cannabis from dispensaries without needing a doctor’s recommendation. There is no requirement that patients have a listed qualifying condition — any medical use qualifies.

Non-residents may apply for temporary registration. If a visitor is a registered medical cannabis patient in their home jurisdiction, they can use that ID card for access via a dispensary.

Information on D.C.’s medical cannabis program, including how to apply to register as a patient, can be found here. And you can find a list of licensed dispensaries in D.C. here.

Congress maintains rider blocking D.C. from regulating cannabis sales

The D.C. Council has signaled for years that they were preparing to establish a regulated adult-use cannabis market once Congress allows it. A public hearing was held on November 19, 2021, for D.C. Council Chair Phil Mendelson’s “The Comprehensive Legalization and Regulation Act of 2021,” a bill to regulate and tax cannabis sales in the District. The hearing was the D.C. Council’s first official hearing on a bill to legalize adult-use cannabis sales. Unfortunately, because Congress’s “Harris rider” has been in every budget since 2014, that bill died and no subsequent bill has been able to be enacted.

MPP Senior Policy Analyst, Olivia Naugle, testifying at the November 2021 D.C. Council hearing. 

In November 2014, D.C. voters overwhelmingly approved Initiative 71, which legalized the possession and cultivation of limited amounts of marijuana by adults 21 and older. However, as long as congressional interference continues, adult-use consumers are left with no access to regulated, tested cannabis.

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