LJ Dawson

Washington, D.C., United States

editor in chief @outlaw_report | founder @TheDes1790 | freelance reporter bylines @NPR @CNN @TIME @Denverwestword | cannabis & all things justice

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Articles

Ex-Cannabis Gifting Store Employees in D.C. Face Uncertainty and Unemployment

6 days ago | washingtoncitypaper.com | LJ Dawson

Thanks for being a member of City Paper! D.C.’s unique cannabis market drew Nat Alexander all the way from Kentucky in 2021. She moved to take a job at one of the popular brick-and-mortar cannabis shops that covered the city. The “gifting” stores had been operating in a gray market, using a legal loophole that followed Initiative 71’s passage in 2014. The law allowed adults to possess small amounts of cannabis and gift it to others without the exchange of money.
Over 270 medical cannabis dispensaries could open in D.C.

Jan 6, 2025 | outlawreport.com | LJ Dawson

Washington, D.C. is still in the middle of unfolding its medical cannabis expansion. The delicate dance around federal oversight began in 2023 and will continue through 2025. All application periods closed in 2024, but The Alcoholic Beverage and Cannabis Administration (ABCA) is still processing hundreds of applications – most of them are for retail dispensaries.
Over 40 D.C. cannabis gifting stores and landlords defendants named in civil lawsuit

Oct 7, 2024 | outlawreport.com | LJ Dawson

A second civil complaint against unlicensed cannabis stores and landlords was filed in federal civil court last Friday by the Alliance of Legal Cannabis Entities-DC alleging damages to their legal business from the illicit shops. The first was filed last week. “ALCE” is formed by the legal medical dispensaries Cannabliss, Holistic Wellness Group LLC, and Herbal Alternatives. Cannabliss is currently closed and transitioning locations, but Herbal Alternatives is still open.
D.C.’s New Cannabis Growers and Manufacturers Face ‘Heartbreaking’ Roadblocks

Sep 15, 2024 | outlawreport.com | LJ Dawson

First published in Washington City Paper. It was a moment he’d prepared for his whole career working in hydroponic cultivation and legal dispensaries in the DMV: a chance to legally grow and sell cannabis where he grew up. But a lack of access to funding and industrial real estate scarcity has deflated his dreams. Almost a year after his conditional license was approved, with no money and no place to grow, Jackson has all but given up on establishing a weed business in D.C.“It was heart-wrenching.
D.C.’s New Cannabis Growers and Manufacturers Face ‘Heartbreaking’ Roadblocks

Sep 6, 2024 | washingtoncitypaper.com | LJ Dawson

Thanks for being a member of City Paper! When Bryan Jackson received a conditional grower’s license for D.C.’s medical cannabis market in October 2023, it was a dream come true for the lifelong Washingtonian. It was a moment he’d prepared for his whole career working in hydroponic cultivation and legal dispensaries in the DMV: a chance to legally grow and sell cannabis where he grew up.
First D.C. gifting store padlocked and shutdown, two arrests

Sep 6, 2024 | outlawreport.com | LJ Dawson

Supreme Terpene is not the most prominent gifting store in D.C. or the only one allegedly gifting mushrooms. However out of 23 cease and desists delivered to stores found to be illegally gifting cannabis products in the city through August, it was the first store to get raided and padlocked shut by D.C. police on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024. Two employees were arrested and charged with felony intent to distribute marijuana.
D.C.’s medical cannabis market sales still stuck in limbo

Sep 3, 2024 | outlawreport.com | LJ Dawson

July sales reports continued to show a medical cannabis market stuck in limbo in D.C.
D.C. cannabis market struggles as patient numbers climb

Jul 30, 2024 | newsbreak.com | LJ Dawson

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Beleaguered D.C. market sees rise in patients but not in sales

Jul 30, 2024 | outlawreport.com | LJ Dawson

D.C.’s medical market expansion is going through difficulties as new manufacturers and cultivators struggle to open and the District’s enforcement against I-71 operators is slow to grow teeth. June continues to cast a dark shadow on the D.C. medical market sales, according to a newly released program report. Overall program sales fell by more than 13% compared to June 2023. This is despite a more than 30% increase in registered patients and over 6% increase in patients served.
265 days of D.C. medical cannabis retail license hearings

Jul 23, 2024 | outlawreport.com | LJ Dawson

What we know from the first 265 days of D.C. medical cannabis retail license hearingsAlmost eight months ago, D.C. opened its doors to new medical cannabis retail applicants. The Outlaw analyzed ABCA Board decisions from November 1, 2023 to July 22, 2024 to get a sense of the makeup of the District’s growing cannabis industry. There are 214 new retail licenses currently in the process of opening. 162 licenses are classified as social equity licenses.