ABC Board Cracks Down on Pot Shops

On July 3rd, the ABC Board issued two orders directed at unlicensed pot shops in Georgetown: HotBox (at 1564 Wisconsin Ave.) and Smoke Island (at 1326 Wisconsin Ave.). The orders were cease and desist orders demanding the shops stop selling cannabis products.

As mentioned above, both these shops are unlicensed. Up until recently, all pot shops were unlicensed. But the city made a shift towards legalizing the commercial sale of cannabis under the ambit of the medical cannabis program. It has begun issuing retailer’s licenses for this purpose. But, as anyone can see, we have a large number of shops that opened before this new regulatory regime. They operated in a gray zone with a tenuous legal status. Now that the city is standing up a genuinely legal regime, the plan was that these gray market shops would either get a license or shut down. (For a much more detailed explanation of all this, please see my constituent update from last May.)

A surprising (to me, at least) number of unlicensed shops simply did not apply for a license. But there could be lots of reasons. The biggest reason is probably that they can’t get a license if they’re located within 300 feet of school or rec center (or within 400 feet of another Cannabis retailer that got their application in first). Also some might not think they can pass the license review process. Or they don’t want to source their cannabis from growers based in the District (as the new law requires).

In any event, many did not apply to get a retailer’s license. Earlier this year, ABCA (the regulatory arm of the ABC Board) was given legal authority from the DC Council to go after these shops. They have taken a deliberative approach to exercising that authority. While I would love quicker action, I certainly appreciate the agency taking the time to do it right.

In line with this deliberative approach, in March ABCA issued warning letters to six unlicensed shops in Georgetown warning them against selling pot without a license. While the agency did not share the names of these shops, I will note that several unlicensed shops have closed in the last six months.

But these cease and desist orders should amp up the pressure on the hold-outs. HotBox was an especially egregious case. It opened this location months after the city decreed the gray market shops to be no longer allowed. It opened at a location that is too close to Volta Park Rec Center to ever get a license. And worse of all, based on reports I received, the pot smoke generated by the store was so bad the patrons to Los Cuates downstairs were getting up a leaving.

I should note that the orders do not command the shops to actually close. I don’t believe ABCA has that authority. But the orders tell the shops that they can’t sell cannabis anymore. Since that’s basically the whole point of these shops existing, it should lead to them actually closing. Moreover, ABCA is working closely with other agencies, like DLCP and MPD, to ramp up the pressure if the shops ignore the orders.

For the last year, whenever people have complained to me about the pot stores, I have been counseling patience. The days of the skeezy gray market pot shops will end. They will be replaced by far fewer, but much cleaner and well regulated shops. Ultimately I think there will be about 4-5 of these shops across all of Georgetown. That compares with the nearly two dozen we’ve had at some points.

But it will take time. These orders are evidence to me that ABCA is still moving forward with the plan. In that they have my strong backing.