West Virginia’s medical marijuana board will recommend that state lawmakers allow patients who meet certain requirements to buy smokable forms of the drug.
Such a move would buck a trend in several other states that have also legalized MMJ but banned either the sale of marijuana flower or outright smoking of medical cannabis.
According to the Charleston Gazette-Mail, the board also plans to recommend:
- That legislators increase or remove a cap on the number of growers, processors and dispensaries in the state.
- Allow a company to serve more than one of those roles – meaning a grower could also be a processor.
The board did not approve any expansion to the list of conditions patients must be diagnosed with before doctors can recommend MMJ.
The law that made West Virginia the 30th MMJ state allows patients to start receiving medical marijuana ID cards in July 2019 but prohibits them from growing and smoking their own cannabis.
It also sets fees for companies to get involved and limits the number of growers and processors to 10 each and dispensaries to 30.
The state Health and Human Resources Department plans to release a full list of recommendations.
They will be presented to lawmakers within days, state health officer Dr. Rahul Gupta said.
– Associated Press
