5469750 Resolution 21-100, Medical Marijuana Cultivation Center Exception Emergency Declaration Resolution of 2015

A RESOLUTION

                                                        

21-100

 

IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

 

May 5, 2015         

 

 

To declare the existence of an emergency with respect to the need to amend the Legalization of Marijuana for Medical Treatment Initiative of 1999 to provide an exception to allow a cultivation center to operate in a Retail Priority Area if the applicant had an application pending or approved before to the effective date of the law establishing or expanding a Retail Priority Area.

 

RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, That this resolution may be cited as the “Medical Marijuana Cultivation Center Exception Emergency Declaration Resolution of 2015”.

Sec. 2. (a) Since January 2015, there have been more than 6 news articles discussing the shortage of medical marijuana in the District of Columbia.  Specifically, in February 2015, the Washington Post ran a story called “D.C.’s medical marijuana shortage: A little noticed crisis amid legalization.” The article brought media attention to the fact that while the District of Columbia permits medical marijuana usage that allowance is of no value for the roughly 2700 patients whose physicians have recommended its usage.  As the article states, “[t]here isn’t enough pot to go around.”

(b) The Legalization of Marijuana for Medical Treatment Initiative of 1999 placed reasonable, albeit strict, limitations on where cultivation centers could open and operate. 

(c) The chronic shortage is due, in part, to the limited number of cultivation centers operating in the District.

(d) Only 3 cultivation centers have been able to provide medical marijuana to dispensaries despite the fact that 10 licenses have been awarded. 

(e) In 2012, the Council further limited choice when it prohibited cultivation centers from opening in a Retail Priority Area (“RPA”).  Since the Medical Marijuana Cultivation Center Emergency Amendment Act of 2012, the Council has approved 4 new RPAs and, as a result, has unintentionally compounded the medical marijuana supply problem by barring cultivation centers from opening and operating.

            (f) There is an affected cultivation center operator seeking to open and operate at 6523 Chillum Place, N.W.  That cultivation center operator sought and applied for a Certificate of Occupancy from the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs (“DCRA”).  On June 18, 2013, the operator was informed by DCRA’s Office of the Zoning Administrator that its proposed medical marijuana cultivation center “is allowed as a matter of right use” because it was located in a C-M-1 Industrial District.

            (g) Unbeknownst to the cultivation center, the Zoning Administrator’s June 18, 2013, letter only referred to the legal conditions of zoning at the time of its issuance and only applied to zoning regulations, not those of the Department of Health, which delegated to DCRA the responsibility of determining whether an application complies with the RPA requirement of the medical marijuana program. 

(h) In 2013, 6523 Chillum Place, N.W., was not located in a RPA.  The change in designation did not occur until December 17, 2014, when the Council approved Bill 20-721, the U Street/14^th Street, N.W., and Georgia Avenue Great Streets Neighborhood Retail Priority Amendment Act of 2014, which became law on May 2, 2015.

            (i) Requiring the cultivation center operator to identify another location and to begin the Certificate of Occupancy process again would further exacerbate the District’s medical marijuana supply problem given that it takes up to 23 weeks to bring a marijuana plant from cutting to harvest-ready bud. 

            (j) The proposed amendment allows cultivation centers that find themselves in a similar legislative or regulatory posture to open and operate a cultivation center in a Retail Priority Area only if their application was approved before the establishment or expansion of a Retail Priority Area.  This is a narrow exception to the prohibition against cultivation centers opening and operating in Retail Priority Areas.

 

Sec. 3. The Council of the District of Columbia determines that the circumstances enumerated in section 2 constitute emergency circumstances making it necessary that the Medical Marijuana Cultivation Center Exception Emergency Amendment Act of 2015 be adopted after a single reading.

 

Sec. 4. This resolution shall take effect immediately.