The District announced Jan. 8 that they have shuttered the 100th illegal cannabis shop since September 2024, when a the Alcoholic Beverage and Cannabis Administration (ABCA) began using enforement powers codified by DC Council that July.
Five licensed cannabis dispensaries have also been shuttered, most often for selling illegal or unlicensed substances. 16 locations were shut down in Ward 6, said Councilmember Charles Allen (Ward 6-D).
Although a press conference was held at 360 H St. NE, in a press release the Mayor’s office indicated that the cannabis sales operation happened in the vicinity of the Marshall Heights neighborhood, on B Street SE. During the closure, MPD officers say they seized 20 pounds of marijuana and 600 grams of THC wax, weapons including including a 9mm rifle, a 12-gauge shotgun and 114 rounds of ammunition. Three people were arrested.
Allen, who introduced emergency legislation giving ABCA enforcement authority in January 2024, said the location of the press conference was apt. “As the mayor said, H Street was suffering from a disproportionate number of these illegal shops that popped up, many of them right here on these two blocks.” he said. “These illegal shops were proliferating not just on H Street but across DC.”
Allen said the bulk of those operations accepted only cash and sold untested cannabis grown outside the District that, he said, was sometimes laced with dangerous drugs. He praised ABCA for going after those shops and in some cases, the landlords who signed leases with them. “In doing so, they are protecting consumers, protecting residents, protecting communities,” Allen said.
The “Harris Rider,” named after Maryland Representative Andrew Harris (R-MD) has been in effect since 2015, forbidding the District from using local funds to regulate a recreational cannabis market —even though, as Allen pointed out, such a system exists in Maryland. It also happened over a ballot initiative in 2014 that resulted in overwhelming support for home growth and possession of marijuana, leading to a law allowing adults to possess up to two ounces of weed and gift up to one ounce to another adult.
The combination of the local law, dubbed “I-71” after the ballot initiative, and federal legislation led to the so-called “grey market,” where cannabis was “gifted” to consumers who purchased other items ranging from stickers and t-shirts to legal advice.
In 2022, the District government created a pathway for those businesses to get legal certification. So far, 95 former “grey” businesses have made the transition to the legal market.
The same year, a law was passed allowing District residents 21 and older to “self-certify” themselves as needing marijuana for medical reasons, creating a workaround to divert customers towards the legal market.
ABCA Director Fred Moosally said that enforcement and regulation together were working, saying the proof was in the numbers; DC’s legal medical cannabis program sold $9 million in December 2025, $5.7 million in retail sales alone.
The cannabis enforcement task force is composed of members of ABCA, Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), DC Health as well as representatives from the Department of Buildings (DOB), the Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection (DLCP) and DC Fire Emergency Medical Services (DC FEMS) depending on details of the operation.
The team says they have taken nearly 710 bounds of marijuana, 144 pounds of mushrooms, 5,304 pounds of THC edibles and more than 8,000 pounds in THC vape cartridges, oils, wax and lotion from illegal shops. They have also seized 12 firearms.
DC residents over 21 can access medical cannabis by registering online through a free patient registration form and purchasing from licensed medical cannabis retailers. For more information about DC’s legal medical cannabis program, visit abca.dc.gov/page/medical-cannabis-program.
