One of the most common questions we get at Capital City Care is how much a patient can legally purchase in the District. Our medical marijuana law states the following:
A dispensary shall not provide a qualified patient or caregiver more than four (4) ounces of dried medical marijuana either at one (1) time or within a thirty (30) day period.
It’s a simple rule, but it gets a little more complicated in practice. Though often referred to as the “monthly limit”, the reality for patients is that what month it is has no effect on your gram availability during a given visit to the dispensary. Instead, we must simply look at how many grams you’ve purchased in the past 30 days and make sure that your next purchase won’t put you over the 4 ounce limit.
Here’s another way to look at this: since 4 ounces equals 112 grams, a patient can always purchase 112 grams minus the number of grams they’ve purchased in the past 30 days. For example, if you’ve purchased 40 grams in the past 30 days, you’ll have 72 still available. Each day, the 30-day window covers slightly different dates, so whenever a previous purchase becomes more than 30 days old, that number of grams becomes available again.
Our experience has been that most patients never run into issues with their gram limits, but those that do often find it quite frustrating. If you’ve misplaced your medicine or your symptoms flare up unexpectedly, it can be tricky to determine exactly what you may purchase and when. Keeping track of your receipts can help you to anticipate future availability, but we’re also happy to check your purchase history any time to let you know what your options are.