Credit: Darrow Montgomery

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A medical marijuana dispensary is opening today in Ward 8.

The aptly named Anacostia Organics is the first medical marijuana dispensary to be licensed east of the Anacostia River. Owner Linda Greene served as chief of staff for Marion Barry while he was the Ward 8 councilmember, worked on former Councilmember Vincent Orange‘s campaign for chairman in 2010, and dated then-MayorVince Gray. Mayor Muriel Bowser appointed Greene to the Historic Preservation Review Board in 2016.

In a news release, Greene says a majority of medical marijuana card holders reside in Wards 7 and 8, but there are no dispensaries in the area.

“I am committed to bringing our patients access to top quality medicine,” she says in a prepared statement. “This opening is also a big step to help ensure that our community will not be left behind as the cannabis industry becomes a larger source of jobs and opportunity around the nation.”

Greene serves on the board of directors for the Minority Cannabis Business Association, is the newly elected chair of the D.C. Medical Cannabis Trade Association, and, according to a news release from Greene’s company, she was recently retained as a strategist for the Cannabis Trade Federation.

Anacostia Organics is all-minority and female owned, according to Greene’s news release, and its entire staff is made up of D.C. residents, most living in Wards 7 and 8.

Court records show that Greene has had mortgage and tax trouble, though the case filed last September was mysteriously dismissed a few months later. It’s possible the issue has been resolved, but the lawyer for the firm that filed the complaint did not respond to City Paper’s phone calls seeking an explanation. Greene, when asked about her personal finances, said: “That doesn’t exist. The information is incorrect,” and declined to comment further.

Tomorrow, Bowser, Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, At-Large Councilmember Anita Bonds, and Ward 8 Councilmember Trayon White will gather for a ribbon cutting at the dispensary, 2022 Martin Luther King, Jr. Ave. SE at 11:30, according to a press release from the mayor’s office.