In August, we reported that the District was requiring applicants for licenses to run medical marijuana dispensaries and cultivation centers to sign a legal waiver in which they indemnify the city against any legal liability and admit that they know that growing and distributing marijuana, regardless of local law, is still a federal offense. Montgomery Blair Sibley, a budding marijuana cultivator, filed suit, arguing that the waiver forced him to give up his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination.

Late last week, a court ruled against Sibley, reports the Courthouse News Service, arguing that there was nothing self-incriminating in the waiver Sibley would have to sign. Additionally, there was a simple solution for those not wanting to sign it — don’t participate in the program.

“Nothing in the district’s medical marijuana laws requires plaintiff to apply to be a cultivator or to run a dispensary. Simply put, plaintiff need not seek to participate in the district’s budding medical marijuana industry,” wrote Judge John Bates on September 16.

In an email to DCist, Sibley confirmed that he’ll sign the waiver and submit his full application for a cultivation center. When we first spoke to him late last year, he said he was looking to rent a space along New York Avenue NE.

Applications for the licenses to run the 10 cultivation centers are due on September 30, and applications for the five dispensaries will be due in October. After they’re received, a five-person committee will choose who gets a license and who doesn’t. The entire program is expected to be functional in mid-2012.