It will be easier for senior citizens to register for medical marijuana in D.C. next week.
Senior Week will run Feb. 22 through Feb. 25, the District’s Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration said in a statement.
People 65 and older can “self-certify that they will use cannabis for medical purposes in lieu of including a recommendation from their health care practitioner with their registration application as is required for all other applicants,” the administration said.
Walk-in applicants can get their registrations during their visit between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. each of those days.
“Senior Week will provide qualifying patients 65 years of age and older with the option to obtain a two-year registration card at no cost,” ABRA Director Fred Moosally said in the statement. “We appreciate the steps taken by the D.C. Council to ease the burdens for qualifying patients to access medical cannabis a result of this emergency legislation.”
Senior Week is part of the Medical Marijuana Patient Access Extension Emergency Amendment Act of 2022, which Mayor Muriel Bowser signed into law last week.
That’s not all the bill provides: Patient and caregiver registrations issued through Sept. 30 will be good for two years, which is double the usual term; the registration fees are already waived through April 24, and medical cannabis products purchased at any of D.C.’s seven licensed dispensaries will be exempt from the 6% sales tax.
All D.C. residents can apply for a patient and/or caregiver registration online, by mail or in person at the ABRA office every April 28. The office is at 2000 14th Street NW, Suite 400 South.
