Montgomery County Moves to Eliminate Non-Native Marijuana Flower

The Montgomery County Council began debate yesterday on a bill to require marijuana retail shops to sell "native flower" and related derivatives and oils only. The bill would phase out "non-native" marijuana strains across all licensed stores in the county.

Councilmember Kate Stewart (D) sponsored the bill, named the "MD Nativist Cannabis Act" and said she is working hard to garner support.

"Have you seen the non-native pot strains being sold here in Montgomery County? It’s outrageous. Mexican Haze. Afghan Kush. Lemon Gelato hybrids from California. These non-native flowers began flooding our County with the dispos and include confusing mixed hybrids. MoCo stoners deserve only fresh local buds from pure strains with terps 2.5 or better. I know several local stoners who grow audacious buds in Takoma that exceed these minimum standards."

A 'dispo' is street language for a cannabis dispensary. A 'strain' is the type of marijuana, sativa or indica, that defines its effects, and a 'hybrid' is a mix of the two. 'Terps' is slang for terpenes, chemicals in cannabis that enhance the high.

"These non-native strains crowd out our native Maryland pot strains, like Kensington Kush, Damascus Sour Diesel, and Seneca San Juan Sativa. Er. Wait. I'll need to confirm that last one's a native pot strain," Stewart told reporters.

County Executive Marc Elrich seemed lukewarm to the idea when asked about it at a later Democrat Socialist Club meeting in Garrett Park.

"Look I think we should, uh, control the means of pot production in MoCo via marijuana co-ops owned by the government, and sell it through our popular county-owned liquor stores. And tax it, baby. But I'm against restricting choice. Some of these non-native strains are very popular, especially among menthol smokers, based on my 15 minutes of research on Tik Tok. I also think it is problematic to expect these non-native strains to just leave after working so hard to get them into the county."

No word yet on when the bill will come up for a full Council vote. CM Stewart was noted to be horse trading with other Councilmembers at the time of writing. Rumored trades in exchange for support of the bill included guaranteed "W" school placement for dependents of council staff regardless of future boundary changes, exemptions to redevelopment under recently approved zoning text amendments for “certain” neighborhoods, and a killer deal to take over the lease on Vaughn Stewart's Chevy Bolt.