A local governing body unanimously voted Wednesday to formally protest a Foggy Bottom smoke shop’s medical cannabis license over alleged improper sales and proximity to a preschool.

The Foggy Bottom and West End Advisory Neighborhood Commission protested Velvet’s Dispensary & Smoke Shop’s — located on Pennsylvania Avenue near Georgetown — application for a medical cannabis license after residents and commissioners raised concerns of ongoing sales without a medical license in violation with local laws, proximity to a daycare center and security issues. The District overhauled cannabis regulations in March 2023, requiring shops to apply for medical cannabis licenses and authorizing increased enforcement against shops who did not do so by March 2024. 

Commissioners made the unanimous decision at the end of a specially called meeting solely to consider the application. They directed owner Eddie Musa and his attorney, John McGowan, to draft a settlement agreement addressing concerns, though residents vowed to challenge the shop’s license application in court.

The Alcoholic Beverage and Cannabis Administration started sending cease and desist orders to unlicensed dispensaries in July 2024 and shut the first shop down in September. ABCA said they shut down their 50th shop on April 24 and said on Monday they shut down a cannabis growing facility for the first time.

D.C. voters approved Initiative 71 in November 2014, legalizing possession, purchase and transportation of up to two ounces of marijuana for adults 21 and older. But Congress, which has oversight over the D.C. budget, has blocked the District from using funds to legalize cannabis since 2014.

The District turned to a “gifting” model in 2015 instead — a de facto legal recreational market in which dispensaries charge customers for ostensible gifts — usually postcards or stickers — in exchange for marijuana products.

Medically licensed shops have to document their product sources and test for potency and harmful ingredients, like heavy metals, unlike recreational stores. They also have to purchase cannabis from producers in the District. Musa said in April he was turning to cultivators inside the District to comply with license standards.

Jason Gold, a member of the 2501 Pennsylvania Ave. Condominium Board next door to Velvet’s, said he and other neighbors are set on opposing the license because he said the shop continued to sell cannabis products into this year without a license, an indication of “bad faith.”

“I’m a retired attorney, and we, 27 of the residents and owners in our building, and we only have 16 units, oppose this, and we’re very, very concerned,” said Gold. 

Gold asked McGowan whether the shop continued to sell cannabis products, which Gold said would have been illegal because the shop has not yet obtained a license. McGowan said the shop operated until the end of last year without a license, which he said was the case for “many” shops that have successfully transitioned to legal status. 

“The shop has been operating illegally, perhaps till the end of last year,” Gold said.

McGowan said it was his understanding that the store stopped selling cannabis at the beginning of this year. He also said past lapses in licensing do not prevent a store from becoming a licensee.

Gabriel Isacoff, a community member, said they live directly above the shop, and the shop is a “perpetual safety issue” because of customers loitering and visible transactions near their building and said that cannabis sales have not stopped, despite McGowan saying they did.

“I will also add that the sale of marijuana products has not stopped, as I frequently pass by patrons standing to the side, in front and behind of our building,” Isacoff said.

McGowan said the license application includes a “security plan” to be approved by ABCA.

“Much like alcohol, there must always be two employees on duty, two or more, and one has to be a manager, so they have to have that extra training,” he said.

2A02 Commissioner May Yang said during a visit to Velvet’s she observed sales of flavored nicotine vapes, which are forbidden by District law to sell within a quarter mile of a school. John Francis Education Campus — which serves pre-K through eighth grade — sits just under that distance from Velvet’s. 

“My main issue is the disrespect for the rule of law,” Yang said. “That’s something that bothers me significantly.”

Yang said she saw “targeting towards children,” like “tropical rainbow blast” and “Cola slushy,” which are prohibited by the District’s 2021 Flavored Tobacco Product Prohibition Amendment Act to sell within a quarter mile of any middle or high school.

“I was wondering, you know, how can we trust Mr. Musa to be able to follow the laws later?” Yang said.

Yang also said Velvet’s is within 300 feet of the Learning Leaf Child Development Center, which she said is a “primary, secondary, preschool or rec center.” The daycares services include pre-kindergarten classes, according to its website.

District law passed in 2022 says cannabis stores can’t be located “within any residential district or within 300 feet” of K-12 schools and recreation facilities. McGowan said the prohibition does not apply to daycare centers such as Learning Leaf. He said Velvet’s does not plan to sell tobacco products once it is a “licensed medical retailer.” 

“So as far as talking about, how can we trust him not to sell flavored tobacco while he’s a licensee, he can’t do it, or he’ll be shut down,” McGowan said.

2A04 Commissioner Ed Comer said he was “distressed” by Yang’s comments suggesting Velvet’s is “operating in violation of the tobacco laws.” 

“I would have expected a much more precise application and information from the applicant than the presentation I heard today, and I find it very disappointing, irrespective of the ambiguities of the gifting system,” Comer said.

2A09 Commissioner Sean Youngstone said he understands the difficulties of transitioning from the gray market to the legal market but did not agree with McGowan’s statement that the shop will change practices to comply with the law when it becomes licensed.

Youngstone said the District’s approach to enforcing cannabis regulation has been a “tacit endorsement” of technically illegal sales.

Acting United States Attorney General for D.C. Ed Martin sent a letter to Green Theory — a cannabis dispensary in Georgetown — on April 25 stating the store violated federal Controlled Substances law and could face enhanced penalties for federal cannabis violations because they operate within 1,000 feet of “several area schools.” 

Since 2015, Congress has included a budget‐bill amendment barring the Department of Justice from blocking states’ cannabis laws. Green Theory, which, like Velvet’s, initially applied for a “summer garden” endorsement — which permits an outdoor cannabis consumption area — before withdrawing, has faced community opposition since it opened in 2024.

Matt Abrams, who said he lives at 2555 Pennsylvania Ave., directly adjacent to Velvet’s, said the summer garden endorsement was agreed by everyone at the meeting to have been a “horrible” idea.

“We have no idea where it would go. If it’s not going to go in the back, and it’s not going to go in the front, it’s not clear to me where the thing would be placed.,” he said.

In a March 2024 letter, ABCA said as long as District smoke shops follow D.C. regulations, federal enforcement should be off-limits because the amendment “appears” to bar prosecution even if a site would otherwise violate federal statutes like the Drug-Free Schools Act.

Musa and his attorney will present a settlement agreement, which allows commissioners to impose specific rules to address community concerns, at the next ANC meeting. If Commissioners adopt the agreement, they will withdraw their protest against the license.