When Initiative-71 was passed into law by a diverse team, which included Adam Eidinger, a partner in Capitol Hemp, DC-ites stared with horror.

The transitory residents of the Capitol city were not happy. This was not as to their peragotive, a mumbo-jumbo of implants that wanted DC to be either Amsterdam or California. Instead, DC was democratized and made free from the shackles of an ever unfairer cannabis industry.

Washington, D.C. has turned into a cannabis incubator, allowing various startups and companies to prosper. The DC-metro area is the most affluent metro in America, and an extremely pot-friendly one at that. This allows companies access to a large, diverse & rich market, one in which failure does not cost much, and legal barriers do not exist. This type of market structure also allows for what Vice Co-Founder Suroosh Alvi calls “punk rock capitalism.

Let’s explore a list of DC’s favorite cannabis startups.

Trapwoods Prerolls

This startup innovates the pre-roll space with marketing and product that is more DC-native. It takes Backwoods blunts, fills them with 2.0 grams of top-shelf nugs of cannabis, sealed saliva-free, and you get the pleasure of smoking with a glass tip. They don’t sell anything, and only provide you gifts. More can be learned on their website, which only links to their private Instagram.

Grass&Co

A smokeshop that attracts the diverse residents, and tourists, of Adams Morgan has managed to become a safe haven for stoners of all creeds. There are often people relaxing in their lounge, while others browse to find what they need in a curated smokeshop experience. Their interior is designed like Banksy & Andy Warhol took over Mad Magazine in the 1970’s. The best part, though, is that they price like a neighborhood shop, not an Adams Morgan one. Their Instagram is here.

Marijuanas.org

Founded by DC-Native, Rick Scott, this website features all the latest on DC’s cannabis industry, specifically events. It can be argued that Rick Scott himself is the Satoshi Nakamoto of the DC weed event scene. No one has ever met Rick Scott, and he remains a mystery, even to those closest to him. His contributions to the Washington, DC cannabis space do not stop there. He also found the DC Recreational Cannabis page, allowing gifts to be exchanged, marketing to be done, and pictures of what you’re smoking (or growing) to be posted for the masses.

Phone Homie Presents The Slab Hour

Phone Homie does reviews, interviews, and general news in the DC cannabis space. He regularly tries glass, and different DC-grown strains to really connect different nodes in the industry together. His about page describes him as “a world traveller; … a graceful curator of the high-arts.” You can listen to his show here.

The startup scene in DC, as seen by the pioneers above, is growing. However, we believe there are certain solutions to global agricultural problems that the cannabis space has a chance to mend. There are a two factors that make Washington, D.C one of the best places for decentralized agriculture startups:

A high saturation of master & novice growers, all with different seeds and varying methodologies.

An open marketplace that forces innovation, allows quick market testing, and has an innovative + diverse market base.

We’d like to see a startup meshing the worlds of blockchain, cannabis and agriculture to create a scalable, decentralized solution to the constant crises of small-scale farmers, and their dependence on corporations.