After two years of waiting and months of delays, West Virginia will finally begin accepting applications for medical cannabis dispensaries, grows, processors, and laboratories.
The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources and the Bureau for Public Health have announced that the Office of Medical Cannabis will begin accepting applications at 3:00 p.m. EST on December 19. Applicants will have 60 days to submit their applications before the submission period will close on February 18 at 3:00 p.m. EST.
Applications are required to be submitted online through www.medcanwv.org and will not have the option to submit a paper version. Late applications will not be accepted.
Originally, the Bureau announced that it will allow for up to 30 permits for dispensaries or delivery services, 10 permits for grows, and 10 permits for processors. The Bureau has not signaled its intent to diverge from this initial roll-out plan.
West Virginia had planned to open applications in July of this year, but has faced setbacks from the state’s treasury department. While banking venders declined to process cannabis funds, the use of credit unions has been arranged as a solution.
While the original legalization legislation, SB 386, was passed in April 2017, patients in West Virginia have been unable to access medicinal cannabis within state borders. Since its passing, eligible patients have had to travel to nearby states with established patient reciprocity agreements to obtain their medicinal cannabis.
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The Office of Medical Cannabis intends to provide access to medical cannabis to West Virginia patients before the summer of 2021. Until then, patients will have to travel for their medicine but are celebrating the progress that has been made.