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Leaders in Washington, D.C. have approved legislation to suspend taxes on medical marijuana around the 4\/20 cannabis celebration, declaring a tax holiday on purchases from April 15 through April 28.<\/p>\n
The District Council approved the tax holiday unanimously on a voice vote on Tuesday, also taking action on a number of other cannabis-related proposals, such as a proposed dispensary buffer zone around schools in commercial and industrial zones.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe popular tax holiday is critical to the District\u2019s effort to attract qualifying patients back to the legal market as well as sustainable and viable medical cannabis program,\u201d said Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie (I), who introduced the measure on behalf of Mayor Muriel Bowser (D).<\/p>\n
The legislation also extends the period of validity for medical marijuana patient and caregiver registration cards to six years and clarifies the Alcoholic Beverage and Cannabis Administration\u2019s (ABCA) authority to close down unlicensed and unregulated retailers.<\/p>\n
The change authorizes ABCA to \u201csummarily close an unlicensed retailer where the continued operations of the unlicensed retailer presents an imminent danger to the health, safety, or welfare of the public,\u201d according to a letter to the council from Bowser.<\/p>\n
An amendment also adopted unanimously by the Council adjusted language in an effort to ensure ABCA has the ability to investigate licensed medical marijuana businesses.<\/p>\n
\nIn addition to encouraging patients to stay within D.C.\u2019s regulated medical marijuana system, the letter says the tax holiday bill<\/a> also supports the medical marijuana industry.<\/p>\n A prior medical cannabis tax holiday was included in a 2022 bill<\/a> designed to help address rising cannabis costs at licensed dispensaries and combat \u201cthe continuing threat posed by illicit cannabis storefronts and delivery services,\u201d according to a companion resolution.<\/p>\n Members of the panel said roughly 200 unlicensed dispensaries currently exist in the District, and about 70 of those have applied to transition into the regulated market.<\/p>\n In separate action on Tuesday, the council also defeated a proposal<\/a> that would have adjusted rules around locating medical marijuana dispensaries near schools. Members also considered a measure<\/a>\u00a0to extend the District\u2019s cannabis enforcement authority while Congress reviews a regulation bill adopts by the council earlier this year.<\/p>\n Retailers must already be 300 feet from schools or recreation centers, but a recent policy exempts certain medical cannabis retailers from that requirement if they\u2019re located in a commercial or industrial zone.<\/p>\n \u201cThis emergency legislation would remove that exception and prohibit all medical cannabis retailers from locating within 300 feet of schools or recreation centers,\u201d explained Councilmember Brooke Pinto (D), noting that the bill would \u201callow affected applicants to change their locations without negatively impacting their locations.\u201d<\/p>\n The change would reportedly affect two pending medical dispensary license applications with proposed locations within 300 feet of schools, though some council members said only one business would be impacted.<\/p>\n McDuffie said he couldn\u2019t support the bill.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is tough work to find a location,\u201d he said, pointing out that D.C. real estate \u201cis not readily accessible when it comes to what they are required to use and the restrictions we put on them in terms of where they can locate. So I can\u2019t support this.\u201d<\/p>\n After a 6\u20136 vote on the measure, with one member absent, the chair announced that the emergency declaration resolution<\/a> failed.<\/p>\n \u2014 A few council members at times during the five-hour meeting opined that marijuana more broadly should be legal in the District, but that policy change has been repeatedly blocked by a congressional rider preventing D.C. leaders from regulating an adult-use cannabis market.<\/p>\n Last month, federal lawmakers again approved funding legislation extending the rider to prevent broader legalization in the District<\/a>.<\/p>\n Maryland Lawmakers Send Psychedelics Task Force Bill To Governor\u2019s Desk, Teeing Up Study On \u2018Equitable And Affordable Access\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of Mike Latimer.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Washington, D.C. Council Approves 4\/20 Medical Marijuana Tax Holiday<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Leaders in Washington, D.C. have approved legislation to suspend taxes on medical marijuana around the 4\/20 cannabis celebration, declaring a tax holiday on purchases from April 15 through April 28. The District Council approved the tax holiday unanimously on a voice vote on Tuesday, also taking action on a numberContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":73722,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81,126],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73721"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73721"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73721\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":73723,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73721\/revisions\/73723"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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