Photo by ekelly80

It’s official: marijuana will be legal in the District of Columbia. Albeit with some heavy asterisks.

In November, District voters overwhelmingly voted in favor of Initiative 71, which proposed the legalization of the possession, home cultivation, and consumption of marijuana. On Thursday, the 30-day Congressional review period will end, thus legalizing marijuana in D.C.

This morning, Mayor Muriel Bowser and other city officials—including Metropolitan Police Department Chief Cathy Lanier—held a conference to discuss how the city will enforce marijuana legalization.

So before you decide to spark up a victory joint on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and shout “FREEEEEEEDOM” in your best Mel Gibson Braveheart impression, here’s what you should know:

• It will be legal to possess up to two ounces of pot.
• It will be legal to smoke said pot on private property.
• It will be legal to transfer (give) an ounce or less of pot to someone else.
• It will be legal to grow and cultivate up to six pot plants—no more than three mature ones—in your home.
• You must be 21 years old to possess, consume, or grow pot.
• Selling pot will still be illegal.
• As will be smoking pot in any public space, which includes restaurants, bars, and coffee shops.
• And, of course, none of this applies to any federal land (which accounts for 22 percent of the District), which considers marijuana illegal.

As for the future of D.C.’s pot laws? Well, Congress is currently doing everything they can do prevent the District from establishing laws to tax and regulate marijuana in the same way as alcohol and tobacco. And as for the prospect of private pot clubs or businesses allowing pot marijuana consumption? Well, Bowser says she doesn’t want D.C. to become another Amsterdam. Bowser also introduced legislation this morning that would ban the opening of private pot clubs.