The Outlaw Report tracked over 80 unlicensed store applications over the last year. Of that original list, we reported last week that over a dozen stores could fail to meet the Mar. 31, 2025 deadline to open. However, new reporting revealed that almost all of the unlicensed applicants who were past the licensing stage were able to open by the Mar. 31, 2025 deadline.

D.C. is now home to 41 unlicensed cannabis stores that successfully transitioned to the legal medical cannabis market – a little under 50% of unlicensed applicants tracked by the Outlaw over the last year.

Two stores made it to the licensing docket but did not open by Monday, according to the METRC system records reviewed and verified by the Outlaw. Another five stores were still in the the middle of processing and also missed the deadline. Another 28 applications were either denied, revoked or withdrawn within the last 13 months. These stores’ applications and licenses will be rescinded or denied, according to the ABCA guidance.

As of last Wednesday, only 15 unlicensed shops had officially transitioned to the legal market. But they already represented over 60% of the legal medical dispensaries open.

Only four medical dispensaries in D.C. remain from the original round that opened almost a decade ago when D.C. legalized medical cannabis. Another two recently opened stores are legacy licensees who were awarded retail licenses before the 2022 expansion of the program. These licensees now represent less than 11% of the entire medical market.

As of April 1, 2025, 41 unlicensed stores are officially transitioned – a more than 170% increase in unlicensed stores entering the legal medical cannabis market. A handful of social equity applicants and one standard applicant also opened in the last week.

A total of 55 stores were registered on METRC according to the records the Outlaw reviewed. This is an over 50% increase in dispensary market size in less than a month. In other words, practically over night, the D.C. medical dispensary store fronts doubled.

The minority of gifting stores choose to transition fully, previous market estimated put the number of unlicensed store fronts at over 200. Only about 20% of unlicensed stores transitioned out of the gifting market in D.C. since ABCA offered unlicensed gifting operators a window to apply to be legal medical cannabis dispensaries in 2023.

The businesses that choose not to attempt to transition have faced enforcement since 2024, and enforcement against applicants that failed to meet the deadline begins April 1, 2025, according to the ABCA guidance.