Anwar Saleem, in his role as executive director of H Street Main Street, takes on several responsibilities, including coordination of the annual H Street Festival and allowing the use of the old AutoZone for summer youth employment activities and other events of cultural significance.
Also on his list as of late is the closure of illegally operating cannabis shops along the H Street corridor. Those shops, Saleem said, have dampened the potential of what could be one of the District’s most vibrant arts and entertainment districts.
“Look at [the 2022 shooting of the Commanders’] Brian Robinson,” Saleem told The Informer. “I think that has something to do with the attraction of the cash businesses on H Street. At the time, we had 37 [cannabis shops] and if you watch the businesses, you’re not going in and out with credit cards. You get criminals outside [as] they sit back and watch you. I think that was probably some of that.”
On Jan. 8, Saleem stood alongside D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser as she announced the shutdown of the 100th illegally operating cannabis shop since the Fall of 2024, when the D.C. Council approved legislation strengthening the Alcoholic Beverage and Cannabis Administration’s (ABCA) enforcement of the District’s medical cannabis laws.
During the most recent closure on B Street SE, three miles from the H Street corridor, the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) seized: more than 700 pounds of marijuana; more than 6,000 pounds of THC edibles; and more than 500 pounds of THC vape cartridges and pens.
Officers also reportedly confiscated several pounds of THC oil, wax and lotion along with mushrooms and 12 illegal firearms.
“This effort is about keeping our community safe and healthy, whether illegal narcotics are sold at licensed cannabis dispensaries or at unlicensed establishments,” Bowser said during her Jan. 8 press conference. “It’s also about protecting the businesses that are doing the right thing. We have legal medical cannabis shops in D.C. The cannabis at those shops is tested and regulated.”
During the summer of 2023, when Bowser championed the Safer, Stronger DC legislation as a tool of violence reduction, Saleem counted among those who identified illegally operating smoke shops as magnets of crime along the H Street corridor.
He said that landlords, in response to advisory neighborhood commissions’ demands for building occupancy, hastily gave tenancy to illegally operating cannabis businesses. ABCA has since shut down eight illegal vendors operating along H Street NE.
With ABCA reaching its latest milestone, Saleem said the work to create a safe and welcoming H Street can continue without interruption. Last year, the corridor attracted 25 new businesses, which Saleem said will continue to happen amid ABCA’s increased enforcement against illegal cannabis shops.
“I think H Street could be a very strong jazz area,” Saleem said. “It could become that specialized arts entertainment district. It can spread throughout the corridor [with] intentional investment. We have to find a way to attract people from behind Union Station.”
The Work That’s Done, and Left to Be Done
Bowser’s announcement, which took place on the 300th block of the H Street corridor in Northeast, brought together Saleem, Interim Metropolitan Police Chief Jeffery Carroll, D.C. Councilmember Charles Allen (D-Ward 6), and ABCA Director Fred Moosally.
On the morning of Jan. 8, Moosally made remarks in recognition of Allen, who introduced the Medical Cannabis Program Enforcement Emergency Amendment Act in 2024. The legislation, among other things, solidified ABCA’s ability to issue cease-and-desist orders against illegally operating cannabis operations and conduct enforcement action against property owners.
“The enactment of supporting legislation expanded ABCA’s enforcement jurisdiction to allow the District to serve as a model jurisdiction for combating and closing illegal cannabis establishments that operate outside the law and undermine our community safety,” Moosally said.
In December, the District’s legal cannabis program generated more than $9 million in monthly sales, including $5.7 million in licensed retail sales. That happened as ABCA ramped up enforcement against illegally operating cannabis shops.
ABCA’s latest shutdown operation follows similar action taken in December against Benning Market & Dollar Plus on Benning Road NE, Best Price Liquors on Central Avenue SE, Cloud Liquor on H Street NE, Minnesota Avenue Exxon on Hunt Place NE, and Sherriff Market on Sherriff Road NE.
In the days, weeks and months leading up to those shutdowns, ABCA padlocked other illegally operating cannabis shops across the District, including those located along the U Street corridor in Northwest, Florida Avenue in Northeast, and near Adams Morgan in Northwest.
Moosally said that unlicensed retailers didn’t take the steps necessary for a legal transition. Shutting them down, he told reporters, became a matter of consumer safety.
“Products sold in the unlicensed market are often untested, unregulated, and frequently mislabeled regarding potency and contaminants,” Moosally said. “In contrast, licensed retailers provide products that have undergone rigorous laboratory testing to ensure that they are free from harmful pesticides, heavy metals, and molds.”
Of the 100 shops that faced ABCA’s wrath, 16 were located in Ward 6. Allen said complaints from residents compelled his introduction of the Medical Cannabis Program Enforcement Emergency Amendment Act. The bill, which also had an emergency version, went through the council’s Committee on Business and Economic Development, then chaired by former Council member Kenyan McDuffie, before getting approved by the entire legislative body.
Allen too called the bill necessary to combat what eventually became the bane of various constituencies.
“I know I was frustrated, my neighbors were frustrated, our businesses were frustrated,” Allen said. “But beyond just being annoyed, these illegal shops…were largely cash operations selling totally untested cannabis grown outside the District, sometimes laced with dangerous and even deadly drugs, and it was not uncommon to find weapons on the premises.”
Amid celebration around the 100th cannabis shop closure, Allen highlighted discussions on the Hill that, once again, complicate local matters. Despite District voters’ overwhelming approval of Initiative 71 more than decade ago, a congressional spending bill rider by Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.) prohibits the District from establishing a legal recreational cannabis ecosystem with its local funds.
“It’s remained even as many other states [including Harris’ state] have set up their own legal and recreational markets,” Allen said. “That rider creates a dangerous and illegal situation where shops popped up seemingly on every corner, and it’s created public safety dangers for our surrounding neighborhoods in our city.”
Balancing the Scales in an Increasingly Appealing Industry
Despite the efforts of the District’s Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D) and cannabis advocates, the “Harris Rider” remains in the Fiscal Year 2026 spending package making its way through the House.
Meanwhile, conversations in the local and national cannabis ecosystem continue to revolve around President Donald J. Trump’s executive order. On Dec. 18, Trump directed federal agencies to reclassify cannabis from a Schedule I to Schedule III.
Trump cited what he acknowledged as the plant’s medicinal properties.
“It’s so early. I can’t tell you,” Trump said about the executive order’s potential to help veterans, elders and other vulnerable populations. “I think I received more phone calls [about] what we’re doing. Hopefully this reclassification— which by the way polls at 82% will help patients live a way better life.”
Experts say the rescheduling of cannabis opens up a realm of possibilities, from increased scientific research, to tax deductions for cannabis shop operators, and even access to banking that’s currently illegal under federal law. Months before Trump issued his federal order, titled Increasing Medical Marijuana and Cannabidiol Research, cannabis consultant Jamila Hogan identified the District as the next hotspot for an industry that’s caught traction across the country.
“The future of cannabis is one that we really have to understand as a global conversation, especially being in Washington, D.C.,” Hogan told The Informer. “That’s the difference between D.C. and Maryland. D.C. is not a state or even New Jersey or New York or every other market. D.C. changes federally and when it changes federally, it’s going to change globally.”
In 2023, Hogan launched Ebony Green Society as a means of helping prospective cannabis operators navigate regulatory hurdles. In her role, Hogan helps clients collect documents for licensure and write business plans, employee handbooks, and standard operating procedures. She also guides them in making financial projections and even formulating a trade name.
Since its inception, Ebony Green Society secured at least six licenses for five District-based cannabis businesses.
As it relates to expenditures, Hogan said that, in order to become licensed, cannabis operators, particularly those operating out of storefronts, have to show they can put a lot of skin in the game. If legally operating online, it’s at least $200,000. If operating from a storefront, it’s more than four times that amount, Hogan told The Informer.
“It requires some outlandish deposits, paying six months upfront in order to acquire the property,” she said. “In other cases, it’s providing proof of funds that you are generating. That is three times the amount of the rent. Even if forming a collective, somebody [on their own] has to prove the income.”
Up until 2024, when the council approved Allen’s legislation, vendors navigating an environment created by Initiative 71 and the Harris Rider conducted marijuana sales out of District storefronts through gifting. This was a process where consumers received shirts and other memorabilia along with their “gift” of cannabis.
“People were just having pop-ups in the wildest places and money was spread in so many different directions in the community,” Hogan said. “It was a good time.”
As Hogan recalled, swathes of cannabis retailers, including those who’ve been involved in the trade long before decriminalization, leveraged their street-level business acumen into an endeavor that created community and put money in people’s pockets.
“It was a legendary experience for a time, and it was secret. You had to be on the email list and find out the date, the address, the day of all this, all these different things, and then people found a permanent spot to do the pop-ups,” Hogan told The Informer. “The rest is history. A lot of brands individually were making a lot of money. The initial mindset of the collective, putting all of their people together to have these grand pop-up events changed to one business and a storefront with a sign.”
However, as enforcement ramped up in 2024 and beyond, many of those vendors lacked the resources needed to navigate the regulatory conditions imposed by the D.C. Council. That inequity, Hogan said, allowed for more well-endowed cannabis vendors to enter the market.
“It was all races, but others definitely started to come into the scene in certain ways,” Hogan told The Informer, “specifically when it comes to…ownership of real estate. The very places that were [allowing] people to do their things now became the places that are doing it on their own. Like a big-bank-take-little-bank sort of thing.”
Nearly two years after the passage of the Medical Cannabis Program Enforcement Emergency Amendment Act, Hogan counts among those concerned that Black people, especially who want to enter the cannabis trade legally, won’t be able to enjoy the fruits of what was intended for Initiative 71.
While ABCA doesn’t track cannabis licensee data by race, the agency is mandated by the Medical Cannabis Amendment Act of 2022 to set aside half of new medical cannabis business licenses for social equity applicants— D.C. residents who are either a returning citizen, or the child or spouse of a returning citizen. As of Jan. 12, there are 41 social equity vendors out 95 total.
The majority of those vendors, 11, are located in Ward 1.
Though Hogan has acknowledged ABCA’s insistence on balancing the scales, she said there’s more to be done.
“[Outreach] has increased tremendously,” she said. “However, it’s too late because the [licensing] time has closed.”
At this point, Hogan said, as she’s been doing for several years, she’s encouraging people to seek other opportunities within the industry — including cannabis cultivation.
“So now it’s looking at different ways and how they can still interact with the market, seeing what their skill set really is,” she told The Informer. “This is why we talked about growing…because we got people who listen. And 10 years later, they got genetics and they’re able to have different conversations. They can be consultants. They can have strains and shells.”