Medical marijuana patients from across the U.S. can now buy their medicine at D.C. dispensaries.
Mayor Muriel Bowser announced Thursday that the list of states with medical marijuana programs whose residents can purchase their pot in D.C. is expanding from 19 to 27, with four more states currently under review. The new states added include Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Nevada, New Mexico, New York and Vermont.
“This emergency rulemaking is patient-centric,” said Bowser in a statement. “It ensures medical marijuana patients from other states can obtain their needed medicine. It will also promote public safety by allowing visitors to obtain their medicine at one of the District’s six — soon to be seven — authorized dispensaries rather than forcing them to go without or patronizing the illegal market.”
Under D.C.’s program, patients can buy up to four ounces of marijuana every 30 days. There are 6,079 registered patients in the city. Out-of-state patients will only have to show their state-issued medical marijuana card to access any of the city’s six operating dispensaries.
The idea of allowing patients from other states to purchase medical marijuana — known as reciprocity — surfaced in D.C. in 2016, when advocates asked the Council to allow it because of the city’s status as a destination for tourism and work travel. But it only took effect in April 2018, and was limited to 19 states whose medical marijuana programs had functionally equivalent standards and regulations to D.C. Bowser’s new action largely lifts that requirement.
There are 33 states across the country with legal medical marijuana programs, but reciprocity arrangements vary dramatically — and D.C.’s may be the most far-reaching.