D.C. Mayor Signs Bill Allowing Tourists To Self-Certify For Medical Marijuana While Visiting The Nation’s Capital

The mayor of Washington, D.C. has signed a bill allowing non-residents to self-certify as medical marijuana patients while they’re visiting the nation’s capital without the need for any doctor’s recommendation—a move that supporters say could boost tourism.

Residents of the District are already able to self-certify under a law that was enacted over the summer as a way of effectively circumventing a congressional spending bill rider that blocks D.C. from using its local tax dollars to implement a system of regulated, adult-use cannabis sales. Medical marijuana registrations surged after the reform took effect.

Now Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) has expanded on that reform, signing temporary emergency legislation on Monday that lets non-residents obtain a 30-day registration from the Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration (ABRA) to purchase marijuana from licensed dispensaries.

The bill, which unanimously cleared the D.C. Council late last month, also makes it so patients who are registered in medical cannabis programs in other states can qualify for a full registration just like District residents. It further increases the amount that a patient can possess from four to eight ounces.

The emergency act took effect with the mayor’s signature and sunsets 90 days after enactment. A complementary measure that would last for 225 days has also passed the Council is currently under review by the mayor, who has until October 25 to act on the proposal.

D.C. lawmakers additionally passed a related resolution declaring an emergency that necessitates the reform.

It says that while ABRA recently instituted a policy providing temporary, 30-day patient registrations—which has resulted in more than 5,000 registrations since August—there “remains a need to expand upon patient access to medical cannabis for qualifying non-resident patients visiting the District of Columbia who are not enrolled in another jurisdiction’s medical cannabis program.”

The resolution points out that states like Hawaii and Oklahoma “already allow visiting patients from other jurisdictions to register and obtain temporary patient registrations cards from the jurisdiction being visited to purchase medical cannabis.”

ABRA issued a notice of the new law taking effect on Thursday that points out that it also applies to international visitors to the U.S. capital.

To self-certify, out-of-state applicants who are at least 21 years of age can apply online and pay a non-refundable $30 fee.

Non-DC residents (domestic & intl. visitors) are now eligible for a temp medical cannabis patient registration. Registrations are valid for 30-days, can be used immediately upon completion of application.

Apply: linkhttps://abra.dc.gov/node/1626021

— DCGov_ABRA (@DCGov_ABRA) October 21, 2022

Dr. Chanda Macias, founder of the D.C. medical cannabis dispensary the National Holistic Healing Center, praised the new policy.

“Now, the nearly 20 million domestic tourists who visit Washington, D.C. each year will have access to medical cannabis during their stay in D.C.,” she said. “This will lead to increased patient access to plant-based medicine and will introduce new patients to the flourishing local medical marijuana landscape. These most recent actions are proof that Washington, D.C. is leading the way as it relates to expanding patient access to all.”

While advocates have welcomed the legislative efforts to expand cannabis access in the District, many continue to push for an end to the federal blockade that’s prevented D.C. from establishing a regulated market, despite voters approving an initiative to legalize possession and personal cultivation in 2014.

After President Joe Biden issued a proclamation earlier this month pardoning Americans who’ve committed federal marijuana possession offenses, as well as people who’ve violated the law in D.C., U.S. Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) called on the president to go further by federally legalizing cannabis and letting the District establish a commercial cannabis market and grant clemency on its own.

The congresswoman said the ongoing local ban, which was maintained in Biden’s last two budget proposals, represents a “shocking violation of D.C. home rule by a Democratic administration.”

A poll released last month found that D.C. voters strongly support marijuana legalization and oppose a crackdown on the cannabis “gifting” market that’s emerged in the absence of regulated sales.

D.C. lawmakers also recently sent letters to House and Senate Appropriations Committees leadership, imploring them to remove the rider preventing local cannabis sales as part of Fiscal Year 2023 spending legislation.

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The House passed the relevant spending bill for FY 2023 in July, excluding the D.C. marijuana prohibition language. In the Senate, the legislation that’s currently on the table from the Democratic Appropriations Committee chairman also omits the rider.

Bowser, Norton and other elected officials in the city have routinely criticized Congress for singling out the District and depriving it of the ability to do what a growing number of states have done without federal interference.

Norton told Marijuana Moment in a phone interview in July that she’s “fairly optimistic” that the rider will not be included in the final spending package. She added that the D.C. self-certification policy is an “effective workaround” until then.

The patient self-certification provision of the measure represents a significant expansion of another piece of legislation enacted into law this year that allows people 65 and older to self-certify for medical cannabis without a doctor’s recommendation.

Meanwhile, the mayor signed a bill in July that bans most workplaces from firing or otherwise punishing employees for marijuana use.

The reform is designed to build upon on a previous measure lawmakers approved to protect local government employees against workplace discrimination due to their use of medical cannabis.

While not directly related to the policy change, a D.C. administrative court recently reversed the termination of a government employee and medical cannabis patient who was fired after being suspected of intoxication on the job and subsequently tested positive for marijuana in late 2020. It also ordered the Office of Unified Communications (OUC) to reimburse the worker for all back pay and benefits.

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