Illegal Cannabis Poses Risks to Consumers and the Public

In 2023, District resident Steph Sherer ate an edible to help with pain as she recovered from surgery. A few hours later, she woke up unable to move her limbs. She had lost all muscle control. Her heart was racing and she was covered in hives.

“I was literally deciding if I should call loved ones or 911 — like, which I should do first,” Sherer said.

Sherer knows a lot about cannabis—enough to know it wasn’t the cause of her reaction. Rather, the edible, she believes, was contaminated by chemicals used to extract cannabinoids from the plant that were not later removed.

“If you know nobody’s looking, you are maybe just going to skip that step in your extractions,” Sherer said.

Founder of Royal Hemp Lev Kerman says butane extraction should not be used in edibles. If butane is accumulated in the body over time to high enough levels, it can poison the body. Studies have shown butane can cause cardiac damage and organ failure.

Today, Sherer heads Americans for Safe Access (ASA), a medical-marijuana advocacy group dedicated to regulating the cannabis industry to ensure consumer health and safety.

So-called I-71 dispensaries sell most of the cannabis in the District. Their products are completely unregulated by governmental health and safety agencies. They are neither tested for contaminants such as butane, mold or pesticides or analyzed for potency. The 11 DC-licensed medical cannabis dispensaries, on the other hand, are legally required to test their products and source them in the District. But the city’s testing lab only opened in August 2024.

Medical Cannabis: DC Grown & Tested

All medical cannabis and cannabis products are grown and manufactured in the District under strict supervision of the Alcohol Beverage And Cannabis Administration (ABCA) and the DC Dept. of Health (DOH). ClearSight, ABCA’s medical cannabis laboratory tests products prior to sale, checking for potency and contamination in addition to medical cannabis manufacturers and farmers internal testing.

District regulations serve several aims. First, they prevent contaminated or unsafe cannabis products from reaching the market. Second, they clearly label each product’s potency, allowing users to adequately gauge their dosage. Lastly, they provide accountability in the event of injury, by clearly supervising and auditing both production and supply chains. The District’s first testing lab opened Aug. 31; all product sold in District stores must be tested there. District residents can also submit product for testing.

“In the event something did come up —hopefully not but if it did—there would be a recall,” said ABCA Director Fred Moosally. “So you know exactly what you’re getting.”

The same cannot necessarily be said of products sold in I-71 dispensaries. They are sourced from what a one former I-71 retailer referred to as “unknown sellers.” Their source, production process and ingredients remain a mystery.

Sixteen new dispensaries are about to open with more on the way. “The District’s medical cannabis system is highly regulated,” said Councilmember Charles Allen (Ward 6-D).

Allen said there is no grey market. I-71 shops are simply not legal. “I also think they’re very dangerous,” he said. He said at an Oct. 21 public meeting that when ABCA closes illegal retailers, “ABCA is seizing cannabis that is laced with amphetamines, laced with fentanyl. It is dangerous. This stuff is getting passed to the general public and I think it’s very dangerous for people who are trying to consume cannabis.”

“There’s a huge distinction between our unlicensed and licensed shops,” Allen said. “I also think there are public safety challenges that are very clear to me around unlicensed shops.”

Injured by Unregulated Cannabis

Consuming unregulated cannabis poses risks. Marijuana plants are very good at absorbing elements of the soil they are planted in, so good that industrial marijuana has been used successfully to remove soil contaminants generated by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster since 1998. They easily absorb mold, fungus, pesticides and metals.

That can create problems when marijuana is consumed. A 2018 Columbia University study found that cannabis users were three times more likely to develop a fungal infection than non-users. They were also found to have higher levels of lead and cadmium in their blood and urine, which can lead to seizures, neurological problems and even cancer.

MPD field tests product found in raids. In two of the five closures under the new law, amphetamines were found in cannabis. Amphetamines are stimulants designed to speed up messages traveling between the brain and the body. They increase energy and euphoria but also potentially increase heart rate or surges of aggression. Long-term amphetamine use can damage the brain and the cardiovascular system and may lead to psychosis, malnutrition and erratic behavior. Medically, amphetamines include drugs like Adderall and Ritalin. Recreationally they include speed and crystal meth.

However, the American Addiction Center says amphetamine contamination is far less likely than contamination by mold or solvents. Nonetheless, MPD stands by the findings.

MPD would not discuss the type of field testing conducted during a raid, but said that “[test] results are only considered definitive after laboratory analysis is completed,” usually by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) or the notoriously troubled lab at the DC Department of Forensic Science (DFS).

It’s not clear where I-71 dispensaries source their cannabis products. Their owners, even those who have now transitioned to the medical industry, remain reluctant to talk about wider cannabis wholesale distribution networks.

However, a few legal cases offer clues.

Between 2018 and 2022, a cannabis delivery service called JointVentures LLC operated from two units in a residential building on 12th Street NW, according to court records. Owner Connor Pennington employed drivers and cyclists to deliver cannabis products to its customers.

Pennington sourced his marijuana from Colorado and California growers, according to the statement of facts filed in Eastern District of Virginia Courts. He transported the products back to DC via commercial flights, the US Mail and FEDEX. In the first three quarters of 2021, JointVentures made more than $2.3 million in profits, according to the US Attorney.

In spring of 2023, the US Attorney Office for DC (USAO-DC) conducted a string of prosecutions against members of the La Dank DMV gang, accusing them of bringing hundreds of pounds of marijuana to DC from California.

The gang, according to the USAO, sold cannabis products both through a dedicated website and individual dealers. Crew members set up “stash houses” in Airbnbs. Each distribution point functioned for a couple of days at a particular property, before moving to another, according to prosecutors. Such caution is not surprising. Distribution of cannabis involves large concentrations of drugs and cash, which invites crime. When they were arrested, the members of the LA Dank crew had 122 pounds of marijuana, 19 guns and 10 machine gun conversion devices.

Cannabis operations in residential buildings have led to violence.

On a late afternoon  September 2023, Matthew Miller was sitting with two friends, Chaz Christian and Deandre Christian, eating take-out tacos in the living room of their unit at the Valo Apartments at 222 M St. SW. Three men dressed in black burst into the apartment and started shooting. Miller and his two friends jumped to their feet, scattering taco and rice across the room, police records state.

The robbers attempted to tie Miller and Christian’s hands behind their backs with zip ties. Miller escaped to the bedroom under fire, leaving a trail of blood. Meanwhile, Christian wrestled a gun from the black-clad strangers and started shooting back, police and court records state.

As Christian fired, the three men in black grabbed bags of marijuana and cash. Another unidentified man scrambled out the balcony to escape and inching along the narrow ledge on the building’s the fifth floor façade. He fell, later dying in hospital from his injuries, police and court records state.

Arriving a few minutes later, police officers discovered streaks of blood in the lobby, in the stairwell and throughout the fifth floor apartment. Miller was found face down on the floor next to the bed, shot twice with a zip tie still around one wrist. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Christian, shot in the legs, made his way to the lobby.

The statement from police describes an apartment strewn with shell casings, cash throughout the kitchen and living room and cannabis packaged both “in plastic bags as for distribution” and in large suitcases as for trafficking.  Police seized more than $88,000 in cash and 115 pounds of marijuana, as well as suitcases and a ledger and recovered at least two guns.

The robbery provides another glimpse of the wholesale cannabis market. Entrepreneurs procure large quantities of cannabis products out-of-state. They arrange for delivery to temporary distribution points located mostly in large residential apartments. The weed is then sold to the many I-71 dispensaries dotting the District’s streets. The transactions, illegal under federal statute, are conducted completely in cash.

“We knew it was drugs,” one resident told WTOP on the day of the shooting. “We told management repeatedly, but they did nothing.”

Educating The Public

So, unregulated cannabis comes with potential threats to public safety alongside threats to personal health. District consumers of cannabis mostly remain unaware of the risks of consuming these unregulated products. Most draw no distinction between I-71 and medical dispensaries. “There are people that are coming from outside of our area and even people in the city don’t have any knowledge that they’re walking into an illegal place,” said Linda Greene, of Anacostia Organics, a Ward 8 medical dispensary.

Medical cannabis industry members, such Greene, argue the District should provide signage indicating a business is conducting regulated, legal sales.

All the District needs is for a prominent individual to consume a contaminated cannabis product, said Greene. The resulting health emergency, she said, could put self-governance at risk. “That’s a bad, bad eye on the city,” Greene said. “We know that the Republicans are talking about perhaps getting control, taking away our home rule again.”

That goes straight back to statehood, of course, and the Republicans who blocked regulation in the first place. But it would be small consolation to the medical licensees who would lose their livelihood.

“I’m very worried about consumers in DC,” she said. “I don’t think that it’s going to be overnight that the facilities are going to be testing products, and I think it’s not going to be overnight for them to shut those, those other facilities down.”