Catch the Smoke: June 9, 2023
CORRECTION: This article previously misstated Jayaraman as a council member. He is not. He is a former candidate for council member at-large.
A long road ahead
In a five hour virtual public hearing, cannabis stakeholders stated their case to an oblivious Alcoholic Beverage and Cannabis board. Lawyers, lobbyists, medical cannabis dispensary owners, I-71 shop owners, patients and council members all stated their issues with a set of emergency rules enacted to transition D.C’s cannabis market to a new more regulated age.
Chander Jayaraman, ex-candidate for council member at-large, testified against the “enormous amount of dry cannabis” purchase per person a month allowed in the amendment: eight ounces or half a pound. The majority of comments actually were in support of increasing the amount of purchasable flower and concentrates for patients.
Jayaraman held up a two gallon Ziploc (which was not clear) supposedly filled with eight ounces of dried lawn grass, 14X12 and two inches thick. According to Jayaraman’s own research he “found that you can make about 450 joints with that amount of grass.”
A board member even thanked him for his visual, saying it was “helpful.” Grass clippings and cannabis buds are structured completely different. Jayaraman’s visual was not only misleading but completely inaccurate. As anyone in the cannabis industry knows, a half pound of weed or 224 grams broken down into the typical one gram joint is only 224 joints – 50% less than Jayaraman stated.
Jayaraman’s surely well meant and time consuming research was a prime example of the stakeholders’ biggest concern. The policy D.C. continues to implement to regulate and form a cannabis industry lacks the most essential piece – input from the industry itself.
Much of the actual meeting turned into education for the board on the process, use and supply chain of the cannabis industry. The last part of the hearing was dedicated to Edward Grandis of Ward 2 grilling Terrence White, the I-71 committee chairman, on security and product testing for I-71 shops, and him calling gifting shops “illegitimate businesses.”
White responded by outlining the education he provides at his store to staff and clients, the “healthy amount of money” he pays a security company, the work his business and other stores put into community efforts, the sales taxes paid and the money given to the BID his store is located within. White explained what many I-71 shops implore the city to understand that despite some bad actors and the legal limbo of their sales many gifting establishments function as full legitimate businesses.
The main take away from the hearing, other than the board lacking fundamental knowledge of the industry and the state of D.C’s gray market, was the changes necessary to realize an equitable and functional medical cannabis expansion in D.C. are not actually up to the board. ABC is unable to rewrite the laws or make new legislation that would be able to address stakeholders concerns. Those laws must all go through city council, the mayor and therefore congress, leaving us at The Outlaw more uncertain than ever what the future holds. Listen to the whole five hours here.
In other news
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This week, don’t miss
Fashion meets music
Grindstone Universal presents a fashion and music experience featuring Grindstone Fashion Design House with performances from Grindstone, Pinky Killacorn, Sir E.U. and DJ Trillakay at Songbyrd. (Tue, Jun 13, 7PM; $19.32)
