Washington, D.C. is still in the middle of unfolding its medical cannabis expansion. The delicate dance around federal oversight began in 2023 and will continue through 2025. All application periods closed in 2024, but The Alcoholic Beverage and Cannabis Administration (ABCA) is still processing hundreds of applications – most of them are for retail dispensaries.
The Outlaw Report closely followed every ABC Board meeting and analyzed the public documents associated with the meetings to paint a picture of how many dispensaries could potentially open in the next year. Retail licenses that are conditionally awarded, meaning the application does not have a location, have just 12 months to formally apply and standard applications have less than half a year to open after approval. This means that all of the licenses publicly considered by ABCA last year will likely have to open in the next 12 months.
Our analysis found that 276 businesses are at some point in the process of being approved or opening. There are currently only 11 medical dispensaries operating in The District, four of these are new licensees that were formerly unlicensed operators doing business in the D.C. “I-71 gifting” market.
There has been just one new cultivator opened in the city, but original medical growers have expanded their growing power. However, it is unclear if their expansion will be adequate for the potential of dozens of new stores. There are still supply concerns even if a fraction of the medical retail businesses open that we reviewed.
The majority of retail applications are still conditional, meaning they still do not have a location in the city to finish applying for their dispensary. The majority of these 176 businesses could not proceed to getting licensed.
However, there are over 80 applications with locations secured who are now going through the licensing process. Over 35 of these already have a license and must be open in 120 days.
If just 40 businesses successfully open this year, the market would see a 400% increase in retail locations. If all the current applications open, retail locations would increase by over 2,500%. Though the increase will likely fall on the lower end, the D.C. cannabis market will face major new supply and demand changes in 2025.
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