W.Va.: Senators introduce bill to improve medical cannabis program!

SB 231 would make it possible for patients and caregivers to grow their own cannabis and obtain edibles from dispensaries — urge your elected officials to support this legislation!

West Virginia’s medical cannabis law doesn’t allow patients to cultivate cannabis, smoke cannabis, or purchase edibles, but those problems aren’t the state Senate’s fault. When the state legislature passed the medical cannabis bill in 2017, the Senate supported including home cultivation and allowing access to edibles and whole-plant cannabis, but the House insisted on making the program as restrictive as possible.

This year, several senators, led by Senate Majority Leader Tom Takubo (R-Kanawha), are trying to improve the program by introducing SB 231. This important bill would eliminate the prohibition on edibles and smoking and allow patients and caregivers to obtain temporary certifications to grow their own plants. Medical practitioners would be authorized to issue “compassion certificates,” which would allow possession of up to 12 mature plants and 12 seedlings per patient.

Please contact your delegates and senators now and urge them to support SB 231!

The bill would allow compassion certificates to be voided in the future if the state determines that patients have sufficient access to medical cannabis from the dispensaries. Regardless, this bill would be extremely beneficial for patients who won’t be able to afford the cannabis products that will be available at dispensaries.

After your write your elected officials, please share this message with anybody you know who wants to help improve West Virginia’s medical cannabis program!