On April 15th the District of Columbia will move ahead with their medical cannabis system by publishing regulations in the DC Register. But the nation’s capital is following a similar path as New Jersey: Both are attempting to provide just a handful of centralized cultivation and dispensing centers without any provisions for patients to cultivate at home. DC and NJ have also delayed the implementation of their medical marijuana laws for over a year, the extra time has seen what should be simple regulations have evolve into complex even draconian rules.
The DCist reported today:
The medical marijuana program sketched out by District officials will be more restrictive than similar programs in other states. Only five dispensaries and 10 cultivation centers will be allowed, and each will pay significant fees for licenses and registration. Only patients suffering from HIV/AIDS, cancer, glaucoma, and multiple sclerosis will qualify, and will be limited to two ounces a month. Home cultivation will not be permitted, which has rankled advocates and raised a tough question — where exactly will cultivation centers get seeds to grow the marijuana they will then provide to dispensaries? No clear answers have yet emerged, but at a February townhall on the program, one advocate hinted that plants seized by the Metropolitan Police Department may well be a source. (There’s still the unsettled issue of how the feds will respond to the program; a recent raid in Montana and an IRS investigation into the taxes of the country’s largest dispensary in California have some local advocates worried. read more
Still, Washington DC is planning for five dispensaries in a city of approximately 600,000 residents. New Jersey is putting in just six Alternative Treatment Center (ATC) sites to serve a state with nearly 10 million people.
Applications to run the DC dispensaries are set for publication on April 17th, unless there is a federal government shutdown. The District of Columbia relies on federal funding for its municipal operations.
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