WASHINGTON (DC News Now) — Aaron Rogers, owner of Elevated Tours marijuana shop, said he sees the light for marijuana gifting shops to be legalized in the District. But he’s also incredulous, given the long-standing hurdles these owners have faced.
“I am cautiously exuberant. This has been a long road, I have silver hair,” said Rogers with a laugh.
Now with the DC City Council’s approval last week to allow these gifting shops to apply for medical marijuana licenses and the chance to be cultivators of cannabis, those like Rogers said a legal pathway is definitely possible.
“There was a time where I had to hide behind dumpsters and underneath bleachers to really enjoy what everyone should freely be able to enjoy,” Rogers said from his business, which gives tours of the DC monuments while his guests consume cannabis. “To see this progress, for me, I’m exuberant. Obviously, I’m cautious about the details.”
And he has every reason to be — given that Mayor Muriel Bowser, who has expressed concern about product being safe and tested and its handlers free of crime, has to sign off. So does Congress, which oversees the District.
Marijuana was legalized in 2014 under Initiative 71 but for small traces. That prompted the creation of gifting shops to give marijuana for free in exchange for buying items like clothes to get around the limitations of the law.
But over the years, the owners of seven medical dispensaries have been…
