Title 7, Human Health Care and Safety.

*NOTE: This section includes amendments by emergency legislation that will expire on October 28, 2026. To view the text of this section after the expiration of all emergency and temporary legislation affecting this section, click this link: Permanent Version.* (a) Notwithstanding…

(a)(1) No earlier than 180 calendar days after March 22, 2023, ABCA shall make additional cultivation center, retailer, and internet retailer licenses available to unlicensed establishments for a 90-calendar day open application period. (2) To be eligible to apply for a cultivati…

*NOTE: This section includes amendments by emergency legislation that will expire on October 28, 2026. To view the text of this section after the expiration of all emergency and temporary legislation affecting this section, click this link: Permanent Version.* (a) Unlicensed esta…

(a)(1) The holder of a retailer license shall be eligible to apply to the ABC Board for a safe-use treatment facility endorsement. The holder of a safe-use treatment facility endorsement shall be permitted to: (A) Sell medical cannabis, medical cannabis products, and paraphernali…

(a)(1)(A) The holder of a retailer license shall be eligible to apply to the ABC Board for an education tasting endorsement. (B) The holder of an education tasting endorsement shall be permitted to offer cooking and how-to classes and demonstrations, and tastings for educational …

(a) The holder of a retailer license shall be eligible to apply to the ABC Board for a delivery endorsement. The holder of a delivery endorsement shall be permitted to offer curbside pickup and deliver medical cannabis directly to a qualifying patient or the qualifying patient's …

(a) The holder of both a retailer license and a safe use treatment facility endorsement shall obtain a summer garden endorsement from the ABC Board to be eligible to conduct operations in a summer garden, which may include the sale, service, and consumption of medical cannabis on…

(a) Except as provided in § 7-1671.05a regarding protests against unlicensed establishments that applied for licenses prior to January 30, 2024, the following persons may protest the issuance of a license, the renewal of a license, or the transfer of a medical cannabis retailer l…

(a) ABCA shall provide electronic notice to the Councilmember representing the ward where the establishment is or will be located and any affected ANC at least 45 calendar days prior to the approval of a location for a retailer. (b) The ABC Board may, at the request of both an af…

(a) A protest against a medical cannabis retailer license by persons with standing under § 7-1671.06g shall be on the basis of: (1) A violation of this chapter by the applicant; (2) A violation of civil law by the applicant that is directly related to the operation of the busines…

The ABC Board shall accord great weight to input provided by an affected ANC regarding the proposed or existing location of a retailer when approving or rejecting an application for a license.

*NOTE: This section includes amendments by emergency legislation that will expire on October 28, 2026. To view the text of this section after the expiration of all emergency and temporary legislation affecting this section, click this link: Permanent Version.* (a) Any person who …

(a) There is established as a special fund the Medical Cannabis Administration Fund ("Fund"), which shall be administered by ABCA in accordance with subsection (c) of this section. (b) All funds received from medical cannabis licensing, permitting, and registration fees shall be …

(a) The Mayor shall establish a Medical Cannabis Advisory Committee (“Committee”), which shall monitor: (1) Best practices in other states that allow the use of medical cannabis; (2) Scientific research on the medical use of cannabis; and (3) The Program's effectiveness. (b) Repe…

(a) ABCA is authorized to establish, by rulemaking, fees for the licensing of cultivation centers, manufacturers, retailers, internet retailers, couriers, and testing laboratories and for the inspection and audit of cultivation centers, manufacturers, retailers, internet retailer…

(a) No liability shall be imposed by virtue of this chapter upon any duly authorized District officer engaged in the enforcement of any law relating to controlled substances. (b) The District shall not be held liable for any deleterious outcomes from the use of medical cannabis, …

Nothing in this chapter shall require a governmental, private, or any other health insurance provider or health care service plan to be liable for any claim for reimbursement for the use of medical cannabis.

(a) If the ABC Board, after investigation but before a hearing, has cause to believe that a person is violating a provision of this chapter and the violation has caused or may cause, immediate and irreparable harm to the public, the ABC Board may issue an order requiring the alle…

(a) An applicant for a license, and each licensee, shall allow any ABCA investigator or agent of the ABC Board full opportunity to examine, at any time during business hours: (1) The premises where a cannabis product is manufactured, kept, sold, or consumed for which an applicati…

If a search warrant is issued by any judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia or by a United States Magistrate for the District of Columbia for premises where any cannabis products are sold, exchanged as part of a commercial transaction, delivered, or permitted to …

(a) The Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection, the Office of Tax and Revenue, and the Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department shall notify the ABC Board if a licensed establishment is the subject of a citation, revocation, or other enforcement action for a violat…

(a) Any unlicensed establishment where cannabis is sold, exchanged as part of a commercial transaction, delivered, or permitted to be consumed shall be a nuisance, except any unlicensed establishment of an applicant that filed an accepted and pending application with the ABC Boar…

(a) The Mayor, pursuant to subchapter I of Chapter 5 of Title 2 [§ 2-501 et seq.], shall issue rules to implement the provisions of this chapter, including rules to: (1) Adopt manufacturing practices with which cultivation centers, manufacturers, retailers, and internet retailers…

(a)(1) After the Alcoholic Beverage and Cannabis Board ("ABC Board") makes final determinations for the licensure of unlicensed establishments pursuant to §§ 7-1671.06a and 7-1671.06b for the first violation of § 7-1671.08(f), the ABC Board shall send a notice to the commercial p…

(a) The Council of the District of Columbia finds that the inhalation of concentrated smoke resulting from the smoking of tobacco in facilities in which the public congregates is a clear danger to health and a cause of inconvenience and discomfort to persons present in such facil…

For the purpose of this subchapter: (1) “Bus stop” means a location that has been designated by a pole and appropriate signage as a place where passengers board a bus. (1A) “Educational facility” means any enclosed indoor area used primarily as a library or for instruction of enr…

(a) Smoking shall be prohibited in the following: (1) Any elevator, except in a single-family dwelling; (2) Any public selling area of a retail store, except in a tobacco shop or store primarily concerned with selling tobacco and smoking equipment; (3) Any public assembly or hear…

(a) Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, the owner, manager, or person in charge of any restaurant having a seating capacity of 50 or more shall designate at least 25% of the total seating capacity as a nonsmoking area. Bar and lounge seating in the restaurant is…

(a) Any private or public employer in the District of Columbia (“District”) shall, within 3 months of May 2, 1991, adopt, implement, and maintain a written smoking policy that contains the following provisions: (1) Designation of an area in the workplace where smoking may be perm…

(a) No person shall refuse to hire or employ any applicant for employment, or discharge or otherwise discriminate against any employee with respect to compensation or any other term, condition, or privilege of employment, on the basis of the use by the applicant or employee of to…

(a) A property owner or ground-floor commercial tenant has the authority to post signs on his or her property stating that smoking or the use of tobacco products is not permitted on public space within a specified distance from and abutting the building wall. That distance shall …

(a) In any place, elevator, or vehicle in which smoking is prohibited, the owner, manager, or person in charge of the place, elevator, or vehicle shall post or cause to be posted signs that read, “No Smoking Under Penalty of Law”, “No Smoking Except in Smoking Areas”, or “Smoking…

(a) The owner, lessee, manager, operator or other person in charge of a facility, event site for organized sporting events, or vehicle where smoking or the use of tobacco products is prohibited pursuant to this subchapter shall: (1) Post and maintain the appropriate "No Smoking" …

Any person who violates any provision of this subchapter, other than § 8 of D.C. Law 3-22, by: (1) Smoking or using tobacco products in a posted "No Smoking" or "No Use of Tobacco Products" area or defacing or removing a "No Smoking" or "'No Use of Tobacco Products" sign, or fail…

If any provision of this subchapter, or its application to a particular person or circumstance is held invalid, such invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications of this subchapter.

This subchapter shall not prohibit smoking in the following areas: (1) An area where smoking is permitted by any provision of this subchapter; (2) A tobacco shop or store primarily concerned with selling tobacco and smoking equipment; (3) Upon the stage by performers during the c…

The Mayor shall establish, in conjunction with the District of Columbia Commissioner of Public Health or any other agencies or departments of the District, a program to educate the general public on the issue of smoking and involuntary smoking, the health risks involved, and the …

Nothing in this subchapter shall make lawful smoking in any place in which smoking is prohibited pursuant to § 6-1401 et seq., § 35-251(b), or any other District of Columbia or federal law.

For the purposes of this subchapter, the term: (1) "Characterizing flavor" means a distinguishable taste or aroma other than tobacco, including fruit, chocolate, vanilla, candy, dessert, alcoholic beverage, menthol, mint, or wintergreen. (1A) "Electronic smoking device" shall hav…

(a) No person shall sell, give, or furnish any tobacco product to, or purchase any tobacco product on behalf of, any person under 21 years of age. (b)(1) Any person who sells any tobacco product and who has reasonable cause to believe that a person who attempts to purchase the pr…

(a)(1) No person under 21 years of age shall purchase any tobacco product, possess any tobacco product, or attempt to purchase or possess any tobacco product. (2) Paragraph (1) of this subsection shall not apply to a person under 21 years of age who is handling or transporting to…

(a) No person shall sell or distribute tobacco products, except cigars, through a self-service display. (b) Subsection (a) of this section shall not apply to: (1) Vending machines that are permitted under § 47-2404(b)(3); or (2) Self-service displays that are located in a tobacco…

(a) No person shall sell or distribute to any person within the District of Columbia any cigarettes except in packages containing no less than 20 cigarettes. (b) This section does not apply to a tobacco specialty store. (c) Repealed. (d) Any license to sell tobacco products issue…

(a) Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, no tobacco product shall be sold to individual customers from mobile vending motor vehicles and trailers that sell retail food products ready for immediate consumption. (b) Cigarettes may be sold at hotdog stands and const…

(a)(1) A violation of section 3, 5, 6, or 7 shall be subject to a civil penalty of not less than $100 and not more than $500 for the first violation. For a subsequent violation, a person shall be subject to a civil penalty of not less than $500 and not more than $1,000. (2) Any p…

(a) No person shall sell, offer for sale, receive for sale, distribute, purchase, or facilitate the sale of: (1) A flavored tobacco product; or (2) An electronic smoking device within one quarter mile of any middle or high school in the District. (b) There shall be a rebuttable p…