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Trump U.S. Attorney Who Threatened Licensed D.C. Marijuana Dispensary Sends Mixed Signals About Respecting Local Laws
A U.S. attorney with the Justice Department is giving mixed signals about his approach to prosecuting alleged violations of federal laws by licensed marijuana businesses, saying on the one hand that prohibition must be “abided by,” but specifying that cannabis operators who are not in compliance with local laws are most at risk of enforcement action.
Interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Ed Martin made the comments despite having recently warned a licensed cannabis dispensary in D.C. about violating federal law, suggesting the possibility of prosecutorial action despite compliance with local policy.
“Your dispensary appears to be operating in violation of federal law, and the Department of Justice has the authority to enforce federal law even when such activities may be permitted under state or local law,” he said in a letter to the District dispensary last month.
But in emails to Politico, Martin seemed to draw a distinction between locally licensed and unlicensed cannabis activity.
“Anybody who is selling marijuana better have a license and everything in order, otherwise we will pursue action against them,” he said.
Again, Green Theory, the dispensary that the prosecutor targeted in his letter, is compliant with D.C. laws, though Martin has also made the case that it is in violation of a separate federal statute that prohibits cannabis shops within 1,000 feet of schools, as is the case with the business in question.
“We should expect federal law to be abided by, and we’ll take a look at any situation where there’s questions,” Martin said. “If the law is broken, we’re going to look closely at it.”
As far as Green Theory is concerned, he said the issue was “referred to me by a citizen,” and when he investigated, “I thought the parents and the families in that community had not been heard well enough, so I thought I would go take a look at it.”
“It was referred to me by a citizen who said: ‘Have you seen this?’” Martin said. “And when I looked into it, I thought the parents and the families in that community had not been heard well enough, so I thought I would go take a look at it.”
In a separate interview late last month, the U.S. attorney said shutting down licensed marijuana dispensaries doesn’t “rise to the top” of his priorities, but his “instinct is that it shouldn’t be in the community.”
“You apply the facts to the law, but you do it in the context of what the community is going through at that moment,” he said.
“I want to get to the bottom of it. I think—look, my instinct is that it shouldn’t be in the community based on what I saw from the parents,” Martin said. “But I think people and businesses deserve the opportunity to look at it and interact.”
He added that, “If you want to change the law, we can go to Congress, you and I can say that. I happen to think that’s a good law.”
Green Theory was reportedly one of the first in D.C. to transition from being an illicit so-called “gifting shop”—which attempted to use a loophole to sell non-regulated marijuana to adults—to become part of the District’s licensed medical marijuana program.
The dispensary at one point sought to allow onsite marijuana use, with a business plan that envisioned “a vibe similar to the world-famous Amsterdam Coffee Shops.” Since then, however, co-founder Robert Martin said the business no longer intends to allow onsite consumption.
Under D.C.’s own cannabis rules, dispensaries can’t operate within 300 feet of schools, though commercially zoned areas—where schools may be located—are exempt.
In a March 2024 letter, the District’s Alcoholic Beverage and Cannabis Administration (ABCA) argued federal law does not interfere with its medical marijuana program, which the agency said had “been subject to congressional review, and has not been disapproved or repealed.”
In March, meanwhile, the White House called the District’s move to decriminalize marijuana an example of a “failed” policy that “opened the door to disorder.”
In a fact sheet about an executive order that Trump signed—which is broadly aimed at beautifying the District and making it more safe—the White House listed several local policies in the nation’s capital that it takes issue with, including cannabis reform. That’s despite the president’s previously stated support for a states’ rights approach to marijuana laws.
“D.C.’s failed policies opened the door to disorder—and criminals noticed,” it says, citing “marijuana decriminalization,” as well as the District’s decision to end pre-trial detentions and enforcement practices around rioters, as examples of such policies.
The executive order itself doesn’t mention marijuana specifically. But it says the directive will involve “deploying a more robust Federal law enforcement presence and coordinating with local law enforcement to facilitate the deployment of a more robust local law enforcement presence as appropriate in areas in or about” D.C., and that includes addressing “drug possession, sale, and use.”
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Recreational cannabis possession and personal cultivation is legal in D.C. under a voter-approved ballot initiative, though commercial sales of non-medical marijuana remain illegal.
Because of a congressional rider that’s been renewed annually since that vote, the District hasn’t been able to use its local funds to implement a system of regulated recreational cannabis sales, so officials have taken steps to expand the city’s existing medical marijuana program as a workaround.
During Trump’s first term in the White House, he maintained that D.C. rider to keep blocking cannabis sales in his budget requests, as did his successor, former President Joe Biden.
This week, Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) said she intends to “continue to fight” against efforts by her GOP colleagues to interfere with the District’s marijuana laws, vowing to again push for the removal of a spending bill rider that’s long prevented a commercial cannabis market.
What Norton didn’t mention in her speech is the fact that the District’s marijuana laws have recently been threatened in an especially direct way under the Trump administration with the U.S. attorney’s threat to a licensed dispensary.
Photo courtesy of Chris Wallis // Side Pocket Images.
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Nevada Lawmakers Weigh Bill To Stop Disqualifying Foster Parents’ Eligibility Over Marijuana
“Not only do these kids have to be taken away from their parents, they have to be taken away from their communities sometimes, and put in other counties and other schools.”
By April Corbin Girnus, Nevada Current
Clark County is making the case that Nevadans with non-violent marijuana convictions should not be automatically disqualified from becoming foster parents.
“Over the years we have lost qualified, caring individuals due to former criminal records, particularly from marijuana convictions related to possession that were over 20 years old or longer,” Ashley Kennedy, a lobbyist for Clark County, told state lawmakers. Such convictions “no longer align with Nevada’s current laws.”
Assembly Bill 107, which the county requested, would change that. It would allow people convicted of marijuana possession for amounts that are currently legal to become foster parents. It would also remove the automatic ban on fostering for anyone with a marijuana-related conviction more than 5 years old and not related to selling.
Currently, any conviction for possession, distribution or use of any controlled substance automatically disqualifies you from becoming a foster parent.
AB107 would not change other licensing requirements for foster parents, which include training, background checks, home inspections and home studies. The bill, sponsored by Las Vegas Democratic Assemblymember Tracy Brown-May, received unanimous support from the Assembly and was heard by a Senate committee last week.
Kennedy said Clark County does not have formal data on the number of people who have been turned away by its family services department for having prior marijuana convictions, but anecdotally they believe it to be “at least 10 families a year.”
She added that, while 10 may appear to be a small number, most foster care homes take in more than one child per year, meaning the impact is “significantly larger.” Many foster homes also take in multiple kids at the same time, child advocates noted.
The need for more foster care homes is great in Clark County and Nevada.
“In Clark County alone, we have over 3,000 children in foster care on any given day but fewer than 900 licensed foster homes,” said Kennedy.
Republican Assemblymember Ken Gray, who signed on as a cosponsor of the bill, said it could be a “game changer.” He added that Lyon County currently only has seven foster families.
“We have so few beds,” he said. “Not only do these kids have to be taken away from their parents, they have to be taken away from their communities sometimes, and put in other counties and other schools. You’re adding more damage on top of damage that’s already been done.”
He added, “Even one or two homes in each county is going to make a significant difference.”
This story was first published by Nevada Current.
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Photo courtesy of Chris Wallis // Side Pocket Images.
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Colorado Lawmakers Send Psychedelics Bill To Governor To Allow Pardons And Implement Data-Tracking
Colorado’s House of Representatives has approved a Senate-passed bill to empower the governor to grant pardons to people who’ve been convicted of psychedelics-related offenses and also revise implementation rules and data-tracking provisions for the state’s 2022 voter-approved psychedelics legalization law.
House members voted 43–22 in favor of SB25-297 during third reading on Tuesday, following Senate passage of the proposal on a 23–12 vote last week. With approval by both chambers, the measure now proceeds to the desk of Gov. Jared Polis (D).
If enacted, the bill would authorize Polis or future governors to grant clemency to people with convictions for low-level possession of substances such as psilocybin, ibogaine and DMT that have since been legalized for adults.
It would also require the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE), Department of Revenue (DOR) and Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA) to “collect information and data related to the use of natural medicine and natural medicine products.”
That would include data on law enforcement activities, adverse health events, consumer protection claims and behavioral impacts related to psychedelics.
“What this bill does is it sets up a mechanism to collect health information, which should give us the data to see whether or not natural medicine, as it’s rolled out, has adverse health effects or beneficial health impacts,” Sen. Matt Ball (D), SB25-297’s Senate sponsor, said during discussion on the measure last week.
House sponsor Rep. Lisa Feret (D), meanwhile, noted that as the measure is currently written, the data-tracking program “will be funded by grant dollars, so we will not be taking any more money from this.”
Prior to passage by the Senate, a committee amendment removed a government appropriation to pay for data collection and tracking, replacing a reference to “ongoing appropriations” with “appropriations or gifts, grants, or donations.” Ball said at the time that lawmakers have a letter of intent from the Psychedelic Science Funders Collaborative—a nonprofit that supports advancing psychedelic therapy—to fund the program for the entirety of its five-year duration.
The bill would earmark $208,240 in those funds for the governor’s office of information technology. “To implement this act, the office may use this appropriation to provide information technology services for the department of public health and environment,” the text version says.
The legislation would further amend rules around licensing and ownership of psychedelic healing centers. For example, it removes a requirement for fingerprint background checks for owners and employees of licensed facilities, making it so they would only be subject to a name-based criminal background check.
It additionally “requires the state licensing authority to adopt rules related to product labels for regulated natural medicine and regulated natural medicine products and permits the state licensing authority to adopt rules regarding the types of regulated natural medicine products that can be manufactured.”
The proposal overall has support from an array of advocates, including psychedelic medicine proponents as well as groups more skeptical of legalization. Public commenters at a hearing last month seemed to agree that the bill’s data collection provisions would help observers both inside and outside Colorado better understand the outcomes around regulated psychedelics.
Meanwhile in Colorado, last month the governor signed into law a bill that would allow a form of psilocybin to be prescribed as a medication if the federal government authorizes its use.
While Colorado already legalized psilocybin and several other psychedelics for adults 21 and older through the voter-approved ballot initiative, the newly enacted reform will make it so drugs containing an isolated crystalized version synthesized from psilocybin can become available under physician prescription.
As of January, meanwhile, Colorado regulars have been authorized to approve licenses for psilocybin service centers where adults can access the psychedelic in controlled settings.
The governor signed a bill to create the regulatory framework for legal psychedelics in 2023.
But lawmakers evidently are interested in setting the state up to allow for a more conventional system of distribution for certain psychedelics. In 2022, Polis also signed a bill to align state statute to legalize MDMA prescriptions if and when the federal government ultimately permits such use.
Whether FDA moves forward with any such approvals in uncertain, and the agency faced criticism last year after rejecting an application to allow MDMA-assisted therapy for people with PTSD.
Meanwhile in Colorado, a bill that would have limited THC in marijuana and outlawed a variety of psilocybin products will no longer move forward this session following the lead sponsor’s move to withdraw the bill.
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