Washington D.C. is one of the most interesting jurisdictions for cannabis policy. It is a federal district, and cannabis remains a Schedule I substance under federal law in the U.S. However, both medical cannabis and adult-use cannabis are legal in Washington D.C., although only medical cannabis sales are currently legal there.
Medical cannabis was first legalized in Washington D.C. in 2010. Voters in Washington D.C. later approved a recreational cannabis legalization initiative in 2014, which legalized possession and cultivation by adults. Due to federal funding provisions, dispensaries in Washington D.C. are not allowed to sell adult-use products.
“According to the Alcoholic Beverage and Cannabis Administration’s latest report, total sales fell from $8,982,688 in May to $8,432,503 in June. The downturn comes amid a notable drop in the number of D.C.-registered medical cannabis patients served, which fell from 17,880 in May to just 13,025 in June. Sales attributed to local patients followed suit, dipping by $182,051 to a total of $3,014,359 for the month.” reported Outlaw Report in its local coverage.
“In contrast, temporary patients served from outside the District continued to play an outsized role in the local cannabis economy. That group grew by almost 3,000 patients —from 14,075 in May to 17,052 in June— which significantly outpaced D.C. residents in dispensary sales. Maryland, Virginia and Florida remained the top three sources of out-of-state patients through the District’s reciprocity program, though each state reported fewer visiting patients than in the prior month.” the outlet also reported.
Medical cannabis reciprocity is not something that is found in every legal medical cannabis jurisdiction in the United States. The public policy concept of reciprocity allows medical cannabis patients registered in their home jurisdiction to register and make purchases in another legal jurisdiction. Another example where medical cannabis reciprocity exists is in Hawaii.
Unregulated cannabis sales have proliferated Washington D.C. during the last decade, and according to a previous analysis from the D.C. Council, unregulated cannabis shops sell over $600 million worth of product annually. By comparison, sales at regulated outlets were roughly $37.5 million in 2023 in D.C., less than 7% of total estimated annual unregulated sales.
A recent market analysis and report by Vangst Staffing and Whitney Economics determined that the legal cannabis industry in the United States sold roughly $30.1 billion worth of cannabis products in 2024. The report also found that the legal U.S. industry supports 425,000 full-time jobs.