The Marijuana Dispatch

It took 15 years for our nation’s capital to go from green-lighting medical marijuana to actually getting grow sites or dispensaries.

Soon D.C will have 6 marijuana grow sites and 5 marijuana dispensaries across the city, one just a mile away from the Capitol.

The development is significant because it means marijuana will be available to qualified patients after years of congressional interference and local rule-making. The application process among interested entrepreneurs took more than a year, and the majority of approved cultivation centers clustered in Northeast and dispensaries scattered across the District are still building out their sites and acquiring the necessary permits and business licenses.

“While the process has taken longer than anyone would have liked, I am pleased that we now appear to be only a few short months from the existence of a responsible, well-regulated medical marijuana program,” said Council member David Catania, who played a key role in the 2010 law authorizing the program.