Recreational marijuana is legal in Washington, D.C. However, it is illegal to sell marijuana.

So what's a stoner to do?

According to the Associated Press, get their weed for free.

Photo: Giphy

In order to get legal weed in the hands of ready customers, weed dealers have taken to selling low-cost merchandise like rolling papers, baseball cards, artwork and t-shirts and then giving weed, wax and edibles away with the merchandise for "free."

For instance, at a store in D.C.'s Adams Morgan neighborhood, customers can buy a plain black t-shirt for $45, and be given a few buds as a "souvenir."

Photo: P. Solomon Banda/AP

Eight states allow marijuana to be smoked recreationally. The reason such a complex system has arisen in D.C. is because the district is not a state.

The city hoped to legalize weed in part to reap the tax benefits of selling it. Legalization analysts told the city it could make at least $30 million per year.

Plus, the police had better things to do than to be busting people smoking.

It seemed like a win-win, and legislation was drafted.

Here's the hitch. All of D.C.'s laws are subject to Congressional approval. And Congresspeople on the committee that looks at D.C.'s laws can add whatever they like to the bills the city brings them.

And one weed-hating Congressperson who didn't have anything to do with the city just could bear to let the people of D.C. have their cake and eat it, too.

Representative Andy Harris (R-MD), a member of the conservative Freedom Caucus, took one look at D.C.'s plan and was like, "People want to get high? And D.C. wants to raise some tax revenue? Policepeople want to actually spend time fighting crime. Not on my watch."

Well, what he actually said was: “I think the District of Columbia made a bad decision. I would hope the District comes to its senses and realizes the dangers.”

And what he did to punish D.C.'s "bad decision" was to amend the city's legislation to include a provision that prohibits the District government from spending any city money on developing a system for regulating or taxing weed sales.

What this means is that D.C. can't tax its weed, and can't put in place any laws on how it should be sold.

“We would have regular stores if we had the normal rights of a U.S. state,” Nikolas Schiller, a marijuana advocate said.

But because D.C. does not have those rights, it can't have stores.

Everyone in the city, officials and citizens both, are disappointed in how things turned out, Morgan Fox of the pro-legalization Marijuana Policy Project said. “The DC city council and the city government don’t want to be busting people for weed. They want this to work and work smoothly.”

Weed sellers and users are determined to make lemonade out of the lemons Harris has served the city.

“Seven days a week, you can find a [marijuana] event going on,” Gregory Moorer, a weed seller said.

These events are full of edibles, waxes, bubblers and all sorts of strains. The AP described one of these events as a lively "trade show" where buyers got free hits, sellers educated the public about their products and people happily bought and bought and bought.

Photo: P. Solomon Banda/AP

Though these retailers have found a loophole, and consumers are happy, law enforcement is not amused.

“In our estimation, that’s still illegal,” Andrew Struhar of Washington’s Metropolitan Police Department said about giving weed away for "free."

However, authorities aren't necessarily cracking down on trying to find marijuana violators.

"We serve the citizens and if they say there’s a problem on this or that block, we’re going to do something about it,” Struhar said. “If you’re going to flaunt it and you’re going to stick it in our face and force us to take action against it, then we’re going to take action.”

The marijuana merchants may have found the silver lining, but it remains to be seen just how long this delicate balancing act will go on.

“I don’t think it’s sustainable,” said City Council Chairman Phil Mendelson. “We have legal marijuana but we can’t regulate it. It’s stupid, it’s just stupid.”

District of Cannabis

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