A bill approved by the West Virginia Senate Judiciary Committee would require the state Office of Medical Cannabis to create a rule allowing flower products to be available under the state’s medical cannabis program, but the Legislature would still need to approve the rule, the Charleston Gazette-Mail reports. The law comes after the Medical Cannabis Advisory Board asked lawmakers to approve adding flower to the state regime.
The measure would also allow the state treasurer to create a credit union for the state’s canna-businesses and allow for vertical integration in the space – meaning businesses could act as any combination of cultivator, processor, and dispenser. The bill would also add osteopathic physicians to the cannabis board.
The bill passed the state’s House of Delegates earlier this month.
What else does the bill do?
- Increases the number of permits the Bureau of Public Health can issue from 10 each for growers and processors to 50, and the number of dispensary permits from 30 to 165.
- Changes patient certification provisions to allow medical professionals to determine whether a past or current medical condition could be a contradiction from medical cannabis use and includes language to determine if a patient is experiencing “serious pathophysiological discomfort, disability or dysfunction that may be attributable to a serious medical condition and may possibly benefit from cannabis treatment.”
If approved, the law would allow patients to pre-register with the medical cannabis program before it’s slated to come online in July 2019.