West Virginia health officials have released an online survey for people interested in obtaining medical marijuana.A Department of Health & Human…
West Virginia health officials have released an online survey for people interested in obtaining medical marijuana.
A Department of Health & Human Resources news release says the survey results will be shared with the West Virginia Medical Cannabis Advisory Board in December.
State Health Officer Dr. Rahul Gupta says the non-scientific, anonymous survey will provide insight about potential patient demographics, where they seek care and what conditions they are looking to treat.
Taking the survey doesn’t sign someone up for the program.
Gov. Jim Justice signed the West Virginia Medical Cannabis Act in April after lawmakers passed it earlier in the month.
It permits doctors to recommend marijuana be used for medicinal purposes and establishes a regulatory system. No patient or caregiver ID cards will be issued until July 2019.
A board that will help develop a medical marijuana program in West Virginia is holding its first meeting.
The advisory board is set to meet Wednesday at the University of Charleston. Among the topics for discussion is a work plan for the program’s first year. The meeting is open to the public and will include a comment period.
Gov. Jim Justice signed a law April 19 making West Virginia the 29th state to allow the use of marijuana for certain medical conditions.
The law permits doctors to recommend marijuana be used for medicinal purposes and establishes a regulatory system. The law states that no patient or caregiver ID cards will be issued until July 2019.
West Virginia officials say they’re in the early stages of developing a plan to implement the state’s new medical marijuana law.
The state Department of Health and Human Resources has devoted a section of its website to frequently asked questions and more information, the Charleston Gazette-Mail reported.
Only one agency responsible for nominating a member to the West Virginia Medical Cannabis Advisory Board has publicly announced the nominee — Joe Hatton, deputy commissioner for the West Virginia Department of Agriculture.
Gov. Jim Justice signed the medical marijuana measure into law on April 19. The law permits doctors to recommend marijuana be used for medicinal purposes and establishes a regulatory system. The law states that no patient or caregiver ID cards will be issued until July 2019.
Lawmakers gave DHHR’s Bureau for Public Health oversight and tasked the bureau with creating an online source of public information.
, links to frequently asked questions for patients and caregivers, growers and processors, potential dispensary owners and physicians.
DHHR is currently engaged in rule-making, which means the process of agencies writing the specific plans for implementing laws the Legislature passes.
Allison Adler, spokeswoman for the DHHR, said via email that the Bureau for Public Health’s commissioner’s office “is in the preliminary stage of developing an implementation plan, including a legal interpretation of what rules will be necessary to fully implement the Act.”
“Those rules will begin with requirements for growers/processors so that those entities can come online and begin to produce products, then detailing requirements for dispensaries and physicians, followed closely by the requirements for the registration of caregivers and patients,” she wrote.
“There are many considerations such as program operation, and how applications are to be submitted by growers/processors, dispensaries, patients and caregivers, and physicians,” she added.
The Department of Agriculture is the only entity, so far, that has selected its representative on the medical cannabis advisory board.
Agriculture spokesman Crescent Gallagher said that Commissioner Kent Leonhardt selected Hatton, a certified crop adviser and certified grassland professional.
“As a lifelong farmer, I think this is a great opportunity to show what we can do in agriculture,” Hatton said, in a phone interview.
He noted that West Virginia will have to look to other states such as Colorado, since West Virginians have experience, “but not with the legal variety.” He noted that “this can’t be grown out in the middle of an open field.”
He also has unanswered questions.
“It has to be profitable,” he said. “We haven’t talked about the structure … who’s going to own the crop? Who’s going to own the marijuana? Will it be the farmers or the pharmaceutical companies or the state of West Virginia?”
Gov. Jim Justice signed a law Wednesday making West Virginia the 29th state to allow the use of marijuana for certain medical conditions.
The law lets doctors prescribe cannabis to patients who are terminally ill or have seizures, cancer, chronic pain, post-traumatic stress disorder, AIDS and other specified conditions.
“All of us will feel like we’re doing something good for a family out there,” Justice said at the signing ceremony at the state Capitol in Charleston.
The state Bureau of Public Health will oversee implementation, and will take its time: Patient identification cards won’t be issued until July 2019 or later.
The law is comprehensive, providing for licensed plant growers, processors and dispensaries, making cannabis available to patients in pills, oils, patches, topical gels, liquids and a form that can be vaporized.
The law doesn’t authorize the sale of cannabis for smoking, and patients can’t legally grow their own plants.
Del. Mike Pushkin, a Kanawha County Democrat, spoke in favor of medical marijuana at a media event in February, just before the start of the 60-day legislative session. That panel discussion came just after House Speaker Tim Armstead declared that the time wasn’t right to legalize medical marijuana.
Two months later, it’s legal.
“Going into the session, did many of us think we were going to here today?” Pushkin said. “No, it was a long shot. But it was done because it was the right thing to do. It’s going to help a lot of people in this state. If there is someone who is suffering and they seek this kind of relief, they’re no longer criminalizing their behavior.”
That includes former Monongalia County Del. Bill Flanigan, who was diagnosed a decade ago with testicular cancer, which moved into his lymph nodes four years ago. He was taking multiple medications, some of them to counteract the miserable side effects of chemotherapy.
Then someone sent him cookies laced with a THC derivative and it “made the last of my chemotherapy bearable,” Flanigan said.
Knowing that “what I did was still technically illegal,” Flanigan said he made a difficult decision last year to share his story with others, including current lawmakers.
“It changed enough people’s minds that a year later, we’re able to get where we’re at now, which is just a huge step,” Flanigan said.
State health officer Dr. Rahul Gupta said the law’s two-year implementation also will include the formation of a state advisory board, physician training, patient education, building a medical marijuana use database and getting patient ID cards ready. One area that will be studied will be potential driving limits on patients.
“It is quite a good size undertaking, and it is going to require a lot of planning and effort,” Gupta said.
A bill to legalize medical marijuana in West Virginia is heading to Gov. Jim Justice for a signature.Members of the House accepted Senate technical…
A bill to legalize medical marijuana in West Virginia is heading to Gov. Jim Justice for a signature.
Members of the House accepted Senate technical amendments to the bill Thursday night, sending it on for gubernatorial approval.
Senate Bill 386 puts the West Virginia Medical Cannabis Act under the control of the West Virginia Department of Public Health. It creates a 6 percent excise tax on marijuana and sets a July 2019 roll out date.
A doctor could prescribe marijuana for certain illnesses like post-traumatic stress disorder, chronic pain, or seizures.
The bill does not allow distributors to sell forms of the drug that can be smoked or eaten, but does include prescription oils, pills, or patch versions, and a form that can be vaped.
House leadership has said the bill would, however, allow patients to make their own baked goods using the oils.
Medical marijuana would not be covered by Medicare or Medicaid.
The House of Delegates has passed a Senate bill that would legalize medical marijuana in the state. But the bill has seen a number of changes since the 28 to 6 vote last week in the upper chamber.
During a late night floor session Monday, delegates voted on a handful of amendments to Senate Bill 386, including a committee substitute that completely replaces the Senate’s version of the bill with one sponsored by House Judiciary Chairman John Shott of Mercer County.
Senate Bill 386 would now put the West Virginia Medical Cannabis Act under the control of the West Virginia Department of Public Health. It would create a 6 percent excise tax on marijuana and pushes the rollout date back one year to July 2019 instead of the Senate’s July 2018 implementation date.
The latest version of the bill does not allow distributors to sell forms of the drug that can be smoked or eaten, but does include prescription oils, pills, or patch versions and a form that can be vaped. Judiciary Chair Shott says the bill would allow patients to make their own baked goods using the oils. Medical marijuana would also not be covered by Medicare or Medicaid.
Delegate Shott has called this version of the bill a cautious approach to a controversial issue.
Delegate Tom Fast, a Republican from Fayette County, spoke in opposition to the bill as it was put to a final vote Tuesday. He argued since it is still classified as an illegal drug by the federal government, states shouldn’t make their own rules about using medical marijuana without the Federal Drug Administration’s approval and guidance.
Credit Perry Bennett / West Virginia Legislative Photography
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West Virginia Legislative Photography
Del. Tom Fast, R-Fayette.
“We’re declaring that we are no longer a state under the law,” Fast said, “We’re just going to join 28 other states and say we’re not going to obey the law. That makes no sense to me. If 28 people are gonna jump off a bridge, are you gonna jump off the bridge with them? Are we a nation of laws or are we not? That is the decision that you are faced with today.”
Republican Charlotte Lane of Kanawha County, who introduced her own bill this session to legalize medical marijuana that was never taken up in a committee, says this bill is a step in the right direction.
“People might not be 100 percent happy with it, but folks, this is a lot further than we ever thought we would get this session,” Lane noted, “and we all know people who are sick that can benefit from this or might benefit from it. Now, yes you can talk about maybe we should wait for the Federal Drug Administration, well folks, if you’re dying, it doesn’t matter. So, if something can make you feel better and ease those last days, last weeks for the patient, and for the members, then we ought to pass it.”
Many supporters of the bill have said legalizing medicinal use of the drug could help veterans suffering from PTSD. But Delegate Roy Cooper, a Republican from Summers County argued the legislation will just add another substance to the list of drugs that are abused in the state.
“The veteran’s suicide issue can be answered by the paper in my hand. We’ve now prescribed to veterans ever how many’s on this page; Prozac, Zoloft, sinequan, Wellbutrin, Valium, Ambien, Xanax, morphine, fentanyl, codeine, Ultram, Percocet, Vicodin – veterans are getting these pills shoved in their hands at veterans hospitals all over the country in combination with each other. That’s where our suicide issue’s coming from with veterans,” Cooper explained, “Now, so we put another drug out there and say, okay, you can take that on top of all this other stuff and then go ahead and drink a little alcohol with that. It’s a deadly cocktail folks; a deadly cocktail.”
Credit Perry Bennett / West Virginia Legislative Photography
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West Virginia Legislative Photography
Del. Roy Cooper, R-Summers.
Delegate Gary Howell, a Republican from Mineral County, supported the bill.
“I’m not a doctor, and I don’t know all of the medical benefits; I don’t know all the medical downsides, but I do know that people in the end of life; it gives them hope;” Howell said, “they’ve tried many other things, it hasn’t worked. They know this won’t cure their problem, but it will make ‘em a little bit more comfortable, and if you’ve been with someone at the end of their life, you want them comfortable, and that’s why I support this bill.”
Judiciary Chair Shott pointed to a study from the American Medical Association, that argued there was “high quality evidence” medical marijuana has done a lot of good for sick and dying patients.
“So shouldn’t we give, based on studies like this, shouldn’t we give our physicians the authority to use that type of tool to help their patients? And that’s really what we’ve done, and we’ve instilled in this structure protections to be sure this is not abused and is used properly,” Shott explained, “and for that, ladies and gentlemen, I strongly urge that we give our physicians this tool, that we pass this bill and provide some relief for those who can benefit from it.”
After an hour of debate, Senate Bill 386 passed 76 to 24 and now heads back to the Senate for consideration. If the Senate approves the bill, the West Virginia Medical Cannabis Act will head to the governor for a signature, but if the Senate refuses the House changes, the bill will go to a conference committee.
Governor Jim Justice has said he could support medical marijuana in the state.
