This week I decided to check out Capital City Care, located a block away from the Metro Station on U St. NW. Capital City Care is the only medical dispensary in DC with its own cultivation facility. The flower is lab-tested for active cannabinoids and potency and in this review, we go over what you need to buy from this dispensary, a glance at their menu, products I purchased, customer service, and my overall shopping experience here with their budtenders.
Do I need a Medical Marijuana Card?
Capital City Care DC Dispensary
Capital City Care is a medical marijuana dispensary, which requires a DC medical marijuana card. If you don’t have an MMJ card, DC allows you to “self-certify” and receive a temporary medical card the same day without a doctor's note through the recently passed Medical Cannabis Amendment Act.
Temp Medical Card Options Include:
- 3 days: $10
- 30 days: $20
- 90 days: $50
- 180 days: $75
- 365 days: $100
You can head straight to their location and the staff will help you with the online registration and you will receive a temporary digital MMJ card to purchase medical cannabis that day. If you already have a medical marijuana card from out-of-state, your medical card will be accepted through the DC medical marijuana reciprocity program. Another option is to buy weed in DC through the gifting process which only requires a state ID proving you are 21 years old.
What's on the Menu at Capital City Care?
Capital City Care has an amazing selection of flowers, concentrates, edibles, and vapes on its menu. They house some of the most popular DC cannabis brands. If you are a new patient you will get a whopping 40% discount. Other discounts available are 15% for veterans, 20% for seniors, and 20% for anyone who qualifies for subsidized housing.
Cannabis flower
Capital City Care carries popular DC brands with both medicinal and recreational cannabis. They have a nice selection of brands from Classix, CO2 Extracts, and District Cannabis, ranging from prerolls and eighths to bulk deals with quarter pounds for only $900.
Red Velvet Runtz from Capital City Care
I'd recommend the Red Velvet Runtz by Triple Seven, which cost me $42 for an eighth. But with the 40% first-time customer discount, I walked out with this premium cannabis strain for only $25. Their strongest strain right now is the Carmelita strain with 29.70% THC.
Concentrate extracts
Capital City Care has a nice selection of concentrates from dry sift, kief, dablicator pens, shatter, live rosin, rosin, and Rick Simpson oils. For a larger selection make sure to check out our list of best concentrates in DC and best DC carts.
I bought a ball of hash, and it was kind of like old-school Moroccan hash, which I smoked by rolling it into a “worm,” laying it onto the Red Velvet Runtz flower in a joint, and molding the flower over it. The joint had great flavor from both the hash and flower. It burned light, smoked smoothly, and gave a relaxing but not overpowering effect. The high lasted a good amount of time and felt more medicating than intoxicating.
Edibles
Capital City Care’s edible menu is a bit lacking when compared to California's edibles. You won’t find any delectable treats here, only capsules, plain chocolates, honey, and lozenges which I decided to skip. If you want a more premium selection of edibles, make sure to check out my guide on the best edibles in DC.
Shopping at Capital City Care
Capital City Care is at street level, unlike many recreational cannabis shops in DC which are often on the second floor or in the basement. To enter, you need a valid ID and medical license from any state that has its own medical marijuana program (CCC recognizes out-of-state medical recommendations under Initiative 71).
When you arrive, you're ushered into a spacious lobby that has plenty of room for patients who use wheelchairs. If you're a first-time visitor, you'll fill out a questionnaire while a staff member runs your license through the system, and then you'll be buzzed into the store.
While Capital City Care doesn't have a rewards program, they do offer a 40% discount for first-time patients. The store also participates in Columbia Care’s Share Well/Care Well program, which subsidizes medical cannabis for patients who face significant financial hardship from medication costs. CCC also features sale items which you can find by browsing the menu on their website.
Customer Service at Capital City Care
The store’s size affords patients adequate room for physical distancing and a relatively private shopping experience. Interacting with a knowledgeable budtender is my favorite thing about shopping at a medical cannabis store, and my experience at Capital City Care was no exception. My budtender was Andrew and he was extremely easy to talk to and kind.
A common concern amongst cannabis patients and enthusiasts is that medical market budtenders are beholden to the corporations that own the stores they work at, but for the most part, I didn’t find that to be the case here at Capita Care.
I have specific expectations for what I’m looking for in terms of effect and flavor from medical cannabis, and my long conversation with Andrew helped me select two products for this review that I’d never tried before. The first was the Red Velvet Runtz. I'd been hearing about this cultivar since I dove into DC weed Reddit, and I was glad to finally sample it. The Maryland version of Red Velvet Runtz is produced by Maryland Cultivation & Processing, and the DC version is cultivated by Phyto. I’ve never tried the Maryland version, so I don’t have a basis for comparison, but MCP grows the plants in light-assisted “Dutch” greenhouses whereas District Cannabis in DC grows indoors in Rockwool.
Final Thoughts
If you’re hesitant to sign up for a medical card in DMV, I'm telling you that that access to a DC medical dispensary like Capital City Care is worth it. The biggest reason for this is the budtenders. When I was shopping at Capital City Care, the budtender, Andrew, I worked with understood my preferences and the quality of products I was looking for, and we even discussed why many folks buy their meds on the traditional market rather than the med market. My budtender was super helpful, and I had an excellent experience with the products he recommended. If you're a medical cannabis patient, check out Capital City Care to see for yourself!