The Alcoholic Beverage and Cannabis Administration (ABCA) published a new enforcement tracker to document enforcement actions. The map also pinpoints over 100 known unlicensed establishments.
D.C. residents can now visit the map to find legal and illegal places to buy cannabis. This comes after the first few padlock closures of unlicensed gifting stores started last month. Only five have been padlocked as of last week.
According to ABCA’s page, a joint agency inspection taskforce which includes, ABCA, DC Health, Department of Buildings, Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection and the Metropolitan Police department, have been conducting inspections since March 2024.
To date there have been 34 closures including 28 voluntary closures of businesses after some level of enforcement action. There are still many gifting stores operating openly in the city. At the current rate of 1-2 padlocked stores a week, in could take over six months to close all of the stores.
The current legal market is struggling to stay afloat while it undergoes a massive expansion. Competition from Maryland and unlicensed gifting stores in the city have continued to drain potential medical clients from the market.
