Barracks Row:  Proposed Weed Shop Owner’s Other Outlets Were Closed by ABCA

Tobacco King’s Aloha at 539 8^th Street, Barrack Row

Barracks Row:  Proposed Weed Shop Owner’s Other Outlets Were Closed by ABCA

by Larry Janezich

Posted December 8, 2025

There appears to be zero community support of yet another medical cannabis dispensary on Barracks Row.  None.  There are few who would say that the legal weed shops on Ward 6’s commercial corridors – especially Barracks Row, Pennsylvania Avenue SE, and Barracks Row – have had a positive impact on the community. 

Yet, ANC6B could end up supporting Tobacco King’s application for a medical marijuana retail license for Aloha at 539 8^th Street, next to Barracks Row’s Miracle Theater, despite ANC6B having filed a motion with the city to protest the license and hire an attorney to defend it. 

Here are some facts:

• DC’s Alcohol Beverage and Cannabis Administration (ABCA) has closed two medical cannabis dispensaries operated by the applicant for being unlicensed cannabis retailers.
• September 19, 2025, Tobacco King (1718 14th Street NW)
• October 15, 2025, Tobacco King & Vape (934 Rhode Island Avenue, NE)
• ABCA tends to give the benefit of the doubt to applicants and appears to hand out licenses with a pretty free hand.
• If the ANC carries a protest to ABCA and is unsuccessful, ABCA is likely to grant a license with no restrictions on the dispensary’s operation regarding community concerns.
• If the ANC can mobilize enough community opposition to the dispensary, the applicant runs the risk that the protest of the application will be successful and ABCA will deny the application.
• The applicant has a motivation to sign a Settlement Agreement to address community concerns in return for the ANC dropping the protest.

Some commissioners say that little is lost by seeing the protest through and fighting hard for the denial.  Others think that pursuing a Settlement Agreement is a safer course which could result in a safer neighborhood. 

How this will play out will become clearer Tuesday night at ANC6B’s December meeting at 7:00pm (see below). 

Regardless, the issue of cannabis regulation is a growing concern among other ANCs.  ANC6B will follow up with a letter to ABCA being generated in the 6B ABCA Committee to seek clarification of new regulations being promulgated by ABCA as well as offering suggestions in part aimed at establishing criteria regarding whether a cannabis outlet is appropriate for a neighborhood.  6B is also convening a business round table aimed at addressing the problem of too heavy a concentration of weed shops on Barracks Row.  In addition, ANC6C will discuss cannabis regulations at its December meeting on Wednesday night.

ANC6B will hold its hybrid meeting at 7:00pm Tuesday, December 9.The meeting location will be 700 Pennsylvania Avenue SE; First Floor (entry adjacent to Trader Joe’s).  For info on how to join the virtual meeting, go here:  https://anc6b.org/

ANC6C will hold its virtual meeting at 7:00pm, Wednesday, December 10.

For info on how to join the meeting, go here:  https://anc6c.org/hot-topics/