D.C. begins sale of medical marijuana

WASHINGTON, July 30 (UPI) -- The District of Columbia has recorded its first legal sale of medical marijuana in at least 75 years, officials said.

A 51-year-old man identified as Alonzo purchased slightly less than a half-ounce of D.C.-grown cannabis Monday from the Capital City Care dispensary.

The marijuana cost $250 and will be used to treat Alonzo's symptoms from HIV, The Washington Post reported.

"It's a beautiful natural product that is from rain, sun and soil," Alonzo said. "Mother Nature doesn't make mistakes."

Monday's first legal sales came after a fight that began in the 1990s, when HIV and AIDS activists first began lobbying to put medical marijuana on the citywide ballot.

Congress' restrictions got in the way for more than a decade, but they were lifted in 2009, and D.C. began the long process of licensing marijuana growers and retailers, and certifying the doctors who would approve the medicine and the patients.

As of Monday, only nine patients have obtained a city-issued marijuana card, officials told the Post, and about 20 doctors have requested the necessary forms.

Capital City Care is the first of three planned dispensaries to secure an operating license. The shop offers three strains, priced from $380 to $440 an ounce, that are grown by Holistic Remedies.