DC City Council rejects proposal to fine ‘gift shops’

A bill aimed at levying harsh fines on Washington, DC businesses that engage in the practice of “gift giving” — whereby a retailer sells a product or merchandise to customers accompanied by a “gift” of cannabis will – did not make headway in the district city council on Tuesday.

The emergency legislation would have imposed $30,000 in fines on businesses caught giving marijuana away to customers, and allowed DC residents over the age of 21 to purchase medical marijuana without first seeing a doctor and simply do their own medical, according to NBC Washington need to be confirmed,” according to NBC Washington.

Local television station WTOP reported that “the council voted 8 to 5 in favor of the bill, but because it was emergency legislation it took nine votes to move forward.”

The bill was pushed by DC Council Chair Phil Mendelson, who called for an emergency vote on the bill last week.

Mendelson says the widespread practice of “gifting” has undermined the district’s medical cannabis facilities, as patients have chosen to procure weed illegally rather than through the regulated channels. As such, the bill would have eliminated the requirement to consult a doctor before purchasing medicinal cannabis.

“The medical side is struggling on the edge of existence while the illegal side has only grown faster,” said Mendelson, a Democrat, as quoted by the Washington Post.

The Post said the bill “had alarmed many of the owners and patrons [gifting] Businesses facing hefty fines under the proposed legislation, which they said could have put them out of business.”

Some owners of these facilities said the law had had a devastating economic impact on the city.

“If the law were passed today, it would put hundreds, if not thousands, of people out of work,” said Derek Dawson, owner of one of the gift shops, as quoted by NBC Washington. “Sixty percent of people working in the industry are either black or Hispanic and, like people of color, have found a way to find social justice in this market.”

As business owners like Dawson see it, the initiative, passed by a majority of DC voters in 2014, gave them the right to “gift” cannabis to customers.

To make matters worse, Congress oversees all laws in the nation’s capital. And since 2014, every spending bill in Congress has included a provision preventing Washington, DC from commercializing cannabis.

There was hope among advocates of cannabis reform that the current Democrat-led Congress would scrap this provision, known as the “Harris Rider” and named for its author, Maryland Republican Congressman Andy Harris.

Those hopes were boosted in the fall when Senate Democrats introduced a budget bill that notably failed to include the Harris Rider, a development welcomed by Washington, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser.

“The Senate Budget Act is a critical step in recognizing that DC residents should be governed by DC values ​​in a democracy,” the mayor’s office said in a statement at the time. “As we continue the journey towards DC statehood, I would like to thank Senator Appropriations Committee Chairman Senator Patrick Leahy, our good friend and Subcommittee Chairman Senator Chris Van Hollen, and of course our champion on the Hill, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes, thank Norton, for recognizing and promoting the will of DC voters. We call on Congress to pass a final spending bill that will similarly remove all anti-Home Rule tabs, allowing DC to spend our local funds as it sees fit.

But the optimism fizzled last month when Democrats released a new budget bill that included the horseman.