Riding out the play clock for 2022
VA HAS WORK TO DO
CCHWF, GTBIF, and JUSHF have the largest concentration of assets in the state
"But obviously, we've been left with that live grenade kind of rolling around, and we need to fix it, or else all we have is a black market." Todd Gilbert (R-Shenandoah)
Yesterday from WRIC.com, the General Assembly's Cannabis Oversight Commission has agreed to recommend that Virginia speed up the timeline for retail sales of recreational marijuana to 2023. in 2021, Virginia legalized simple possession and limited home cultivation for adults; however, retail sales were delayed until 2024, with lawmakers including a reenactment clause to the bill requiring a second vote be held during the 2022 legislative session to move forward with the legal market. During a meeting on Thursday, the Cannabis Oversight Commission members raised the possibility of accelerating legal sales to July 1, 2022, with the state's Board of Pharmacy overseeing the market. Staff helping the commission informed members that the Cannabis Control Authority, the regulatory agency set up under the legislation, would need until at least 2023 to set regulations for the legal market. A few years down the line, the shift to legalization was expected but came only a year after marijuana was decriminalized in Virginia. "With Republicans now in control of all three statewide offices and control of the General Assembly now split, GOP lawmakers could vote any of the commission's proposals. Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin said during his campaign that he would not look to repeal legalization, and Republican lawmakers have signaled they wouldn't seek to roll back Virginia's existing law.
An interesting comment from the article is that Todd Gilbert (R-Shenandoah) said, "Democrats in the Senate left many unresolved issues with the legislation after deciding to move forward without a regulatory framework, claiming the existing law enhances the black market for marijuana. They didn't do it the right way," Gilbert said of Senate Democrats after Youngkin's victory. "If there is a right way to do it. So, we're going to have to fix all that, and we're going to work with the Democratic Senate to fix all that. And I imagine the roadmap that they laid out as to how that would occur if they did it in the future is going to change dramatically. But obviously, we've been left with that live grenade kind of rolling around, and we need to fix it, or else all we have is a black market."
VA has work to do.
OH Mediacal Expansion
GTBIF, CCHWF, CURLF, and CRLBF have the largest concentration of assets in the state
According to APNNews, more Ohio dispensaries could sell medical marijuana, cultivators could grow more of it, and more conditions would qualify for using it under legislation passed Wednesday by the Republican-led state Senate. The measure also calls for regulation of medical marijuana dispensaries to move from the pharmacy board to a new Division of Marijuana Control in the Commerce Department. The legislation now moves to the state House. Republican Rep. Steve Huffman, the Tipp City physician who proposed the changes, said they aimed to improve the program developed since Ohio legalized medical marijuana in 2016. The legislation outlines a goal of one dispensary for every 1,000 of the first 300,000 registered patients, then adding more dispensaries as needed. The list of conditions qualifying for treatment with marijuana would expand to include terminal illness, Autism spectrum disorder, chronic muscle spasms, and opioid use disorder. And a physician could recommend marijuana to treat any medical condition if the physician concludes the patient would "reasonably be expected" to find relief or benefit from it. The measure outlines two levels of licensed cultivators — one that could seek to cultivate up to 75,000 square feet, the other up to 20,000 square feet.
