Is THCA legal in Washington DC? DC hemp, CBD and kratom laws

The law in Washington DC

The District never wrote a hemp law. Its Uniform Controlled Substances Act defines cannabis as all parts of the plant genus Cannabis, covering both marijuana (the leaves, stems, flowers and seeds) and hashish (the resin and every compound or preparation made from it). Mature stalks, fiber, oil or cake pressed from the seeds and sterilized seed are left out of marijuana, but there is no exception for plants under 0.3 percent THC (D.C. Code 48-901.02).

Commercial cannabis therefore lives inside the medical cannabis program, which the Alcoholic Beverage and Cannabis Administration (ABCA) licenses and the Alcoholic Beverage and Cannabis Board oversees. Under D.C. Code 7-1671.01(22), a business that sells, exchanges or delivers cannabis or cannabis products from a location in the District without an ABCA license as a cultivation center, retailer, internet retailer, manufacturer, courier or testing laboratory is an "unlicensed establishment."

1. August 5, 1981The District of Columbia Uniform Controlled Substances Act of 1981 takes effect, defining cannabis as all parts of the plant genus Cannabis.
2. February 25, 2010Initiative 59, the medical marijuana measure approved by voters in 1998, becomes D.C. Law 13-315.
3. February 26, 2015D.C. Law 20-153 takes effect, making possession of up to 2 ounces of marijuana lawful for adults 21 and older while sales stay unlawful.
4. March 13, 2019D.C. Law 22-243 adds synthetic cannabinoids to Schedule I as a class.
5. March 16, 2021Initiative 81, the Entheogenic Plant and Fungus Policy Act of 2020, takes effect.
6. April 28, 2021The Office of the Attorney General concludes that CBD, including CBD from hemp, is cannabis under District law.
7. March 22, 2023The Medical Cannabis Amendment Act of 2022 takes effect, with self-certification at 21 and fines for unlicensed sellers.
8. January 31, 2024The ABC Board may begin fining unlicensed establishments that sell cannabis.
9. August 28, 2024A Board cease-and-desist order says hemp-derived CBD and delta-8 THC cannot be sold without a medical cannabis license.
10. December 17, 2024The Medical Cannabis Clarification and Program Enforcement Amendment Act of 2024 takes effect.
11. December 11, 2026The federal limit of 0.4 mg total THC per container begins.

CBD and hemp products

ABCA's lawyers asked the Office of the Attorney General whether CBD is cannabis under the Controlled Substances Act. The Legal Counsel Division answered on April 28, 2021 (AL-21-222) that it is, even when drawn from hemp, because hemp comes from the same plant and nothing in District law carves it out. The memo adds that the 2018 federal farm bill neither changes that nor requires the District to allow hemp-derived CBD, and that the only limit it places on the District is that it may not restrict hemp moving through the District in interstate commerce.

The Board relied on that analysis in an August 28, 2024 cease-and-desist order against an unlicensed shop on Pennsylvania Avenue SE (Order No. 2024-596). It said that products containing cannabis, hemp-derived CBD, delta-8 THC or other substances derived from cannabis classified as hemp cannot be sold commercially in the District unless an appropriate medical cannabis license is obtained, and that whether a product counts as hemp under federal law is irrelevant.

We found no District statute or rule that creates a separate path for CBD foods, drinks, topicals or pet products, and no hemp product registration of the kind many states run.

1. Full Spectrum CBD TincturescbdMD$0.011/mg
2. CBD Softgels Extra StrengthNeurogan$0.013/mg
3. CBD Isolate Gummies, 150mg, LemonLazarus Naturals$0.013/mg
4. Multicannabinoid OilNuLeaf Naturals$0.028/mg
5. CBD Oils 2000 mg: UnflavoredIrwin Naturals$0.034/mg
6. CBD+Mushroom Gummies for WellnessCBDfx$0.037/mg

THCA and delta-8

District law does not name THCA or delta-8 THC in its cannabis definitions; both reach the market only as cannabis under the reading above. The 2024 order described a vape labeled as whole flower hemp oil with THCA, stating under 0.3 percent THC and compliance with the federal farm bill, and still called it cannabis that an unlicensed business could not sell. A delta-9 or total THC figure on the label does not change the answer.

Synthetic cannabinoids are banned outright. Since March 13, 2019, D.C. Law 22-243 has listed synthetic cannabimimetic agents, also called synthetic cannabinoids, as a class in Schedule I under D.C. Code 48-902.04, unless the FDA has approved one as a drug. The current text of section 7-1671.08 also counts selling a Schedule I substance as an imminent danger that allows summary closure of an unlicensed establishment.

Licensed sellers, fines and closures

Beginning January 31, 2024, D.C. Code 7-1671.08(f) lets the Board fine an unlicensed establishment that sells or delivers cannabis outside the program: $10,000 and a remediation plan for a first violation, $20,000 for a second and $30,000 for each one after that, with another $10,000 for a missing or rejected plan. The Board may still order a cease-and-desist or a closure for a first violation.

ABCA may inspect an unlicensed establishment's premises, inventory and records. Selling to anyone under 21, selling cannabis no licensed laboratory has checked once one is licensed, or selling products missing a label with the source, contents, ingredients and THC content are among the grounds for padlocking without a prior hearing, and in a Board proceeding a label stating that a product contains cannabis or THC is presumed accurate unless the seller proves otherwise.

Adults 21 and older and the medical program

Under D.C. Code 48-904.01, adults 21 and older may possess, use, buy or transport up to 2 ounces of marijuana, give up to 1 ounce to another adult without payment, and grow up to six plants at home, three of them mature. The same section says none of this makes it lawful to sell marijuana, and marijuana offered for sale remains a controlled substance.

Purchases happen through the medical cannabis program. Since the Medical Cannabis Amendment Act of 2022 took effect on March 22, 2023, residents 21 and older may self-certify on an ABCA form instead of getting a written recommendation from a practitioner, and a visitor not enrolled in another program may register for a temporary card, for a period the Board sets between 3 days and one year (D.C. Code 7-1671.01, 7-1671.02 and 7-1671.05).

Kratom, kava, amanita and spores

The District's Schedule I rule, 22-B DCMR 1201.1, lists 7-hydroxymitragynine, tagged "(Kratom)", among its unclassified novel psychoactive substances; the rule was last amended in a final rulemaking published January 26, 2018. It does not name mitragynine or the kratom leaf, and we found no District statute that sets an age limit, labels or registration for kratom products.

Initiative 81, the Entheogenic Plant and Fungus Policy Act of 2020, took effect on March 16, 2021. It tells the Metropolitan Police Department to make the investigation and arrest of people 18 and older for non-commercial planting, cultivating, buying, transporting, distributing, possessing or engaging in practices with plants and fungi that naturally contain ibogaine, dimethyltryptamine, mescaline, psilocybin or psilocyn as among its lowest enforcement priorities, and it calls on the District's Attorney General and the United States Attorney to stop prosecuting residents for those activities. Psilocybin and psilocyn stay in Schedule I, and the act leaves commercial activity out.

Neither Schedule I in D.C. Code 48-902.04 nor the Schedule I rule names kava, amanita muscaria, muscimol or ibotenic acid, and we found no District statute naming mushroom spores.

The federal change on December 11

From December 11, 2026, federal law counts total THC including THCA and caps a finished hemp-derived cannabinoid product at 0.4 mg per container. Because District law already counts hemp products as cannabis, the federal change narrows what qualifies as hemp nationally without opening a hemp market here. Read the federal page and What's changing on December 11.