By Chris Kain
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Mayor Muriel Bowser, the Alcoholic Beverage and Cannabis Administration and the Metropolitan Police Department today announced the closure of the 100th illegal cannabis business as part of a joint enforcement initiative that began 16 months ago.

On Jan. 1, authorities shuttered and padlocked the business, which had been operating out of a private residence on B Street SE. Officers made three arrests and seized 20 pounds of marijuana, 600 grams of THC wax, a 9mm rifle, a 12-gauge shotgun, and 114 rounds of ammunition, according to a DC press release.

Since September 2024, the city’s Cannabis Enforcement Task Force has made 56 arrests and seized 709.89 pounds of marijuana, 6,304.6 pounds of THC edibles and 12 illegal firearms, among other things.

“This is about keeping our community safe and healthy,” Bowser said in a statement. “We have a legal medical cannabis market — that is the market where eligible people should be buying and selling medical cannabis.”

The illegal businesses pose a danger to public safety and often sell untested and mislabeled products, officials say, adding that their proliferation undermined the viability of the District’s legal medical cannabis market. Prior to stepping up enforcement, the city offered the unregulated shops an opportunity to seek licenses as medical cannabis providers, with 90-plus businesses deciding to do so.

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