First seen in Washington City Paper
Kaliiva had applied to the Alcoholic Beverage and Cannabis Administration for a license to sell medical marijuana.
A version of this article was initially published in the Outlaw Report.
Marijuana gifting shop Kaliiva was raided last Wednesday, March 6, by D.C. police officers. The shop has operated in D.C.’s so-called “gray” market but is in the process of transitioning to a legal medical marijuana dispensary. The raid occurred during an inspection by the Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection that found psilocybin products (psychedelic mushrooms), according to a police report. Six employees were arrested, and the shop has been shut down.
The Adams Morgan dispensary is one of more than 30 unlicensed marijuana shops that were approved to transition to the legal market. The D.C. Alcoholic Beverage and Cannabis Administration, which processes such applications and oversees the market, previously said that shops acting in good faith to transition to the legal, medical market would not face enforcement while they were in the middle of obtaining licensure.
But the D.C. Department of Health, DLCP, and the Metropolitan Police Department act independently of ABCA to conduct inspections.
DLCP, accompanied by MPD officers, performed a regular business license check and flavored tobacco inspection of Kaliiva on Wednesday, according to a DLCP spokesperson. The inspection was independent of Kaliiva’s medical marijuana licensing process with ABCA. According to MPD’s incident report, police raided the shop after a DLCP investigator “observed narcotics that the location did not have license to sell.”
The incident report says police confiscated almost 400 psilocybin chocolate bars including “Polka Dot” and “Mantra” bars, among other psychedelic mushroom products, totaling about 5 pounds, according to court records. Police also confiscated hundreds of THC-infused edibles and vapes, along with baggies, packages, and Tupperware containing a “leafy green substance”—nearly 32 pounds’ worth, records show.
A DLCP spokesperson wrote in an email on Friday that “To date, DLCP has received no complaints about mushroom-related products. The sale, use, and production of mushroom-related products are considered narcotic offenses and fall under the jurisdiction of MPD.”
In 2020, D.C. voters approved Initiative 81, which declared entheogenic plants and fungi (such as psychedelic mushrooms) among MPD’s “lowest law enforcement priorities” and directed prosecutors to “cease prosecution of residents of the District of Columbia for these activities.” But it is still illegal to sell psychedelic mushrooms in D.C. The measure is significantly different from Initiative 71, which was approved in 2014 and legalized possession and gifting of marijuana in small quantities and effectively opened D.C.’s cannabis gray market. There is no legal medical market in D.C. for psilocybin, MDMA, or other psychedelics despite their rising mainstream popularity.
Kaliiva was one of the first businesses in D.C. to receive a placard—the first step in obtaining a license as a medical dispensary for weed shops operating in the gray market. ABCA previously said that enforcement against gray market shops would start with a warning and fines before referring violations to law enforcement or other government agencies.
DLCP initiated the inspection of Kaliiva last Wednesday. ABCA was not present. “ABCA has not initiated inspections of any business that submitted a timely medical cannabis license application during the open application period for unlicensed operators that is currently pending with our agency,” the agency said last Thursday in an email.
However, ABCA did conduct four inspections of gifting shops, with three resulting in seizures of cannabis products, ABCA Director Fred Moosally said in his D.C. Council testimony last week. Moosally delivered his testimony at about the same time police were raiding Kaliiva.
One of the four raids Moosally referenced occurred at Greenfield Garden in Columbia Heights. DLCP inspected the gifting shop and MPD then raided the place on Feb. 28, 2024, after ABCA denied their application for a medical cannabis license. The denial of their license enabled the raid, according to Moosally. MPD also confiscated psilocybin from Greenfield Garden, according to the police incident report.
The cannabis confiscated from Greenfield Garden allegedly tested positive for amphetamines, according to Moosally’s testimony. MPD declined to share the results of the test because they “do not confirm drug testing in an ongoing investigation,” according to the department’s public information officer.
The raid and closure of Greenfield Garden at the end of February does not explain why Kaliiva, a placarded shop, was raided last Wednesday. But selling psilocybin or cannabis is still illegal even for a gifting shop transitioning to the legal market. There are several other gifting shops in Adams Morgan that did not apply for medical licenses and that were not raided in the past two weeks.
These five separate raids on gifting shops, including on Kaliiva, signify the first wave of enforcement by D.C. agencies since a safe harbor law for gifting shops expired in January. New York tried similar tactics against unlicensed dispensaries to clamp down on its own cannabis gray market, but many of the stores that faced legal enforcement are still operating despite injunctions and criminal charges.
ABCA asked for additional authority from D.C. Council on Wednesday to fine, inspect, and close more than 200 known gifting shops that did not apply for medical cannabis licenses.
In the past, gifting shop raids in D.C. rarely led to charges for the employees who were arrested. Four of the six Kaliiva employees who were arrested are now facing felony charges of drug possession with the intent to distribute, according to court records.
An ABCA spokesperson wrote in an email that “ABCA continues to work with unlicensed operators to complete their applications and navigate the public comment period process.” Kaliiva’s owner did not respond to a request for comment.
Correction: This article originally reported that ABCA approved Kaliiva for a medical marijuana retailer license. Kaliiva had been approved for a placard, which is a preliminary step in the licensure process.
LJ Dawson 