Drug Crimes Attorney in Washington, DC, District of Columbia

What is the status of DC marijuana laws?

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Local DC marijuana laws permit individuals to possess up to small quantities of marijuana for personal use. It also permits them to gift marijuana, but something that a lot of people don’t know, and there is a lot of misinformation out there, but a lot of people are unaware that the DC Marijuana Legalization Act actually did not legalize concentrates. And what that means is that people can still be arrested for what the law calls possession of hash. And the statute defines hash pretty broadly to include things like vape pens, edibles, concentrates, liquids, any kind of derivatives of the marijuana plant that are basically not the actual physical plant. Folks can still get arrested for that and charged with possession of hashish.

In DC there has been a lot of businesses who have sprouted up kind of in the gray or black market where they are gifting marijuana at various events where they’ll sell a tee shirt for example for $60.00, and then they’ll gift marijuana along with the tee shirt as a way to kind of get around the law. And, you know, we believe as defense lawyers that that doesn’t actually violate the statue. However the cops and the government, they believe it does. So people are getting arrested and charged with possession with intent to distribute marijuana when the police raid these kind of popup marijuana events.

And so, you know, there is a lot of misinformation out there. It’s not like the Wild West where you can just do whatever you want when it comes to marijuana. In addition to that it’s also important to know that it still is federally illegal. You know, the federal government doesn’t devote a whole ton of resources to marijuana enforcement, but it does happen especially when there, when it involves large quantities. And having a federal criminal drug case can be incredibly devastating for any individual. And so it’s just important to know, number one it’s federally illegal. Number two, concentrates, vapes, edibles, anything that’s not plant is also still illegal. Gifting in connection with another transaction, it’s unclear whether it’s legal or not, but you could end up getting arrested because the police and prosecutors do believe it to be illegal.

And then lastly it’s also still illegal to smoke marijuana in public. There is a crime called possession of an open container of alcohol. They created a very similar crime to that when they legalized marijuana on the local level in DC and it involves an arrest. It’s not the crime of the century but if you’re out, you know, smoking a joint on a street, or a public sidewalk, or out in public somewhere, you could definitely get arrested for that and have a criminal case and need a criminal defense lawyer.

Washington, DC criminal defense lawyer Joseph A. Scrofano explains the current state of marijuana laws in DC.

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