Legal atmosphere
Every fact below carries a verification date and a source. We do not state law without provenance. Stale facts are flagged. The next review date for each field is in the cartographer's monthly cadence unless an active session or court action requires faster review.
Adult-use program
Operational
as of 2026-10-22
Possession of up to 2 oz by adults 21+ is legal under Initiative 71 (2014), and limited home cultivation is allowed. Congress has blocked a regulated adult-use retail market, so there are no licensed recreational stores; a gifting economy fills the gap.
Source:Initiative 71 (2014); Legalization of Marijuana for Medical Treatment Act; ABCA (abca.dc.gov); NCSL, State Medical Cannabis Laws (ncsl.org/health/state-medical-cannabis-laws), checked 2026-10-22
Next review: 2027-01-22
Medical program operational under the Alcoholic Beverage and Cannabis Administration (ABCA); licensed medical dispensaries may also serve qualifying self-certifying adult medical patients.
Source:Initiative 71 (2014); Legalization of Marijuana for Medical Treatment Act; ABCA (abca.dc.gov); NCSL, State Medical Cannabis Laws (ncsl.org/health/state-medical-cannabis-laws), checked 2026-10-22
Next review: 2027-01-22
Hemp regime
Federal default
as of 2026-10-22
Federal Farm Bill hemp products are sold in DC, subject to District rules; the federal overlay is direct here - Congress retains budgetary control over District cannabis policy. Federal change PENDING: P.L. 119-37 s.781 redefinition takes effect Nov. 12, 2026 and Dec. 11, 2026 - not yet in effect on the verification date.
Next review: 2027-01-22
Possession
Adults 21+: up to 2 oz; transfer of up to 1 oz without payment permitted.
Public consumption
Public consumption of cannabis is prohibited.
Driving
Driving under the influence of cannabis is prohibited; enforcement is impairment-based unless a program rule states otherwise.
Federal overlay
Federal overlay (all states): 91 FR 22714 (Apr. 28, 2026) placed marijuana in FDA-approved products and marijuana subject to a state medical marijuana license in Schedule III; all other marijuana remains Schedule I. The broader rescheduling proceeding was stayed Sep. 29, 2026 and is PENDING - not decided - as of Oct. 22, 2026. P.L. 119-37 s.781 hemp redefinition takes effect Nov. 12, 2026 (cannabinoids the plant cannot naturally produce) and Dec. 11, 2026 (remaining provisions, incl. 0.4 mg/container total-THC cap) per P.L. 119-103 - PENDING, not yet in effect.
Telehealth
Telehealth availability for medical certification follows the state program's own rules; not stated here where the cited sources do not establish it.
Employment protection
State-law employment protections, where they exist, do not bind federal employers, federal contractors, or safety-sensitive testing regimes.
Home cultivation
Adults 21+: up to 6 plants per person (3 mature), household cap applies.
Program structure
What kind of place you actually go to in this state, what kind of license they hold, and how patients (where applicable) access the program. Vocabulary matters here — Louisiana has pharmacies, California has retailers, Texas has dispensary organizations.
Operator model
licensed_medical_program
Patient access
Medical patients register with ABCA; DC offers reciprocity to many out-of-state medical programs.
Out-of-state acceptance
Not recognized
License classes
- Adult-use retailer
- Cultivator
- Product manufacturer
- Testing laboratory
- Medical cannabis dispensary / treatment center
- Medical cultivator / processor (program-defined)
Notable restrictions
- No licensed adult-use retail - Congress blocks it via appropriations rider
- Public consumption prohibited
- Federal property is pervasive - federal prohibition applies on it
What's moving
Active legislation, court actions, ballot measures, and regulatory actions. Reviewed weekly during active sessions, monthly otherwise. Empty categories below are honest — nothing pending is information.
Regulatory actions
State cannabis regulator named in the legal-atmosphere source citationActive - status checked 2026-10-22
Action type: Ongoing program administration and rulemaking
Last reviewed: 2026-10-22
Population overlay
State-level pressures we expect people across District of Columbia to be navigating. This calibrates how the platform routes by default. It is never used to categorize you as an individual — the data lives at the state level. The boundary is architectural.
Federal employment density
Federal employees, service members, and federal contractors in every state remain subject to federal drug policy regardless of state law.
Military presence
Military and federal installations, where present, apply federal prohibition on site.
Veteran population
VA operates under federal law; veteran patients should confirm current VA policy directly with the VA.
Recovery community signals
State-licensed treatment and recovery resources operate independently of cannabis program status.
Boundary: population-level only. Never user-level. The data model enforces the separation between state demographics and individual memory. State pressures inform routing defaults; individuals are met where they are.
Cities in atlas
What we cover in this state, and what we don't yet. Tier 1 means the city has earned the right to a public, indexed surface — full local intelligence with named cartographer review. Tier 2 means internal navigation. Tier 3 means graph reference for Bud routing.
Tier 1 — public, indexed, has earned coverage
No Tier 1 cities in District of Columbia yet. See pending below.
Pending Tier 1 — execution plan
- City nodes pending - this staged entry covers legal status only
Tier 3 — graph nodes for Bud routing
These are present in the routing graph so Bud can answer context-dependent questions across District of Columbia. They are not public surfaces. They exist to make Tier 1 city answers correct.
- Statewide legal-status node only - city nodes pending cartographer build-out
◉Cartographer
CannaIQ Atlas Refresh (MX-038, agent-staged)
Staged legal-data refresh, 2026-10-22. Sources cited per section. NOT a deployed cartographer review - owner/cartographer review is required before deployment (MX-106).
Last reviewed:2026-10-22Next review:2027-01-22Cadence:Quarterly, aligned to the state-legality substrate refresh cadence.