WASHINGTON (DC News Now) — Aaron Rogers, owner of Elevated Tours marijuana shop, said he sees the light for marijuana gifting shops to be legalized in the District. But he’s also incredulous, given the long-standing hurdles these owners have faced.
“I am cautiously exuberant. This has been a long road, I have silver hair,” said Rogers with a laugh.
Now with the DC City Council’s approval last week to allow these gifting shops to apply for medical marijuana licenses and the chance to be cultivators of cannabis, those like Rogers said a legal pathway is definitely possible.
“There was a time where I had to hide behind dumpsters and underneath bleachers to really enjoy what everyone should freely be able to enjoy,” Rogers said from his business, which gives tours of the DC monuments while his guests consume cannabis. “To see this progress, for me, I’m exuberant. Obviously, I’m cautious about the details.”
And he has every reason to be — given that Mayor Muriel Bowser, who has expressed concern about product being safe and tested and its handlers free of crime, has to sign off. So does Congress, which oversees the District.
Marijuana was legalized in 2014 under Initiative 71 but for small traces. That prompted the creation of gifting shops to give marijuana for free in exchange for buying items like clothes to get around the limitations of the law.
But over the years, the owners of seven medical dispensaries have been pressuring city officials to get rid of these shops. Raids were promised and some were even carried out. Mayor Muriel Bowser said she wanted a safe, tested product and to be free of crime.
And an increase in raids was expected from the District’s Joint Cannabis Task Force under the Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration as early as September, but they never really happened. That’s when members of the I-71 committee stepped up their lobbying of the council.
Terrence White owns Monko, a marijuana shop that has a boutique feel with stylish apparel and shiny glass and walls to showcase the products. He called the council approval “a pathway to a license.”
“It’s a start to solving the bigger problem which is cultivation,” said White, who is the chairman of the I-71 Committee. There are only eight cultivators in the District.
White said DC can be a shining example for the country, and if legal approval is given, can meet the growing demand for products.
But White said he’s realistic about the challenges in Congress, which has been loathe to approve of any type of cannabis expansion for profit in the District.
“You never know with Congress,” he said. “Because anytime you start asking for additional funding” it can meet with hurdles. “We understand how politics used to work but it doesn’t work now.”
A spokeswoman for the mayor couldn’t be reached for comment.
Meanwhile, Rogers said he wants the District to get it right by greenlighting cannabis gift shops.
“I believe that the council can figure out the details to make it so all parties win,” he said. “I think DC will see a reinvestment, I think that they will see a flourishment from the cannabis industry to truly have the ability to make DC shine.”
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