Virginia Lawmakers Approve Bills To Expand Medical Marijuana Access In Hospitals

The Virginia Senate has approved a bill to provide legal protections for
hospital workers to facilitate the use of medical marijuana for patients
with terminal illnesses in their facilities, so long as cannabis is
federally rescheduled.

At the same time, a House subcommittee advanced a pair of proposals that
share the goal of permitting medical marijuana access to seriously ill
patients in health facilities—though they take a different approach to the
issue.

The Senate passed its version of the legislation, sponsored by Sen. Barbara
Favola (D), in a 39-1 vote on Tuesday—about a week after the proposal
unanimously advanced through the Senate Education and Health Committee.

SB 332 would build upon existing state law protecting health professionals
at hospices and nursing facilities that assist terminally ill patients in
utilizing medical cannabis treatment. Those protections would be expanded
to hospital workers.

“Cannabis oil has been effective in ameliorating some severe pain and also
helping with nausea and appetite loss,” Favola said ahead of the Senate
vote on Tuesday. “This bill has a couple guardrails in it, and we’re merely
trying to treat patients in hospitals and give them the same options as
we’ve currently giving patients in nursing homes and in hospice.”

As originally introduced, the measure would have simply directed the state
the Department of Health to form a working group to explore the reform, but
its scope was expanded in an earlier subcommittee hearing.

Unlike other states where similar laws are in place or being considered
this session—a policy known as “Ryan’s law,” named after a young medical
marijuana patient in California who passed away—the Virginia bill would
only extend the protections to hospital settings if cannabis is federally
rescheduled. Advocates are working to remove that restrictive language,
however.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order in December directing the
attorney general to expeditiously move marijuana from Schedule I to
Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), but that’s yet to
materialize.

On the House side, the Health and Human Services Health Subcommittee also
met on Tuesday and merged a pair of bills that are also aligned with the
intent of Ryan’s law legislation but take a different approach to the issue.

HB 75 from Del. Karen Keys-Gamarra (D), into which the panel incorporated
Del. Irene Shin’s (D) HB 486, would require healthcare facilities to
establish policies “to address circumstances under which an eligible
patient would be permitted to use medical cannabis.”

Smoking and vaping would be prohibited under the measure, which like the
Senate bill would also not take effect until federal marijuana rescheduling
is completed.

Under the amended House bill, healthcare facilities could suspend medical
cannabis allowances if a federal agency such as the Department of Justice
or Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services takes enforcement action on
the issue or issues a rule or notification expressly prohibiting use of
medical cannabis in health facilities.

The subcommittee approved the amended and merged legislation in a 7-0 vote.

Meanwhile in Virginia, lawmakers are also considering more robust reforms
to the state’s marijuana laws, including proposals to legalize recreational
cannabis sales.

The Senate Courts of Justice Committee passed an amended version of that
bill last week, drawing criticism from advocates over changes that would
impose new penalties on certain cannabis-related activities such as
underage possession and unlicensed cultivation of marijuana that could
carry the threat of jail time.

A coalition of reform groups has since sent a letter to the Senate Finance
Committee, where the measure was transmitted, imploring members to roll
back those amendments.

The advancement of the commercial sales bill as amended comes about a week
after the House General Laws Committee approved a companion version of the
legislation, sponsored by Del. Paul Krizek (D).

As approved in committee, the legislation largely aligns with
recommendations released in December by the legislature’s Joint Commission
to Oversee the Transition of the Commonwealth into a Cannabis Retail Market.

Since legalizing cannabis possession and home cultivation in 2021, Virginia
lawmakers have worked to establish a commercial marijuana market—only to
have those efforts consistently stalled under former Gov. Glenn Youngkin
(R), who twice vetoed measures to enact it that were sent to his desk by
the legislature.

The Senate version calls for sales to start on January 1, 2027, while the
House bill stipulates that adult-use cannabis sales could begin on November
1 of this year.

*Here are the key details of the Virginia marijuana
sales legalization legislation:*

- Adults would be able to purchase up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana in a
single transaction, or up to an equivalent amount of other cannabis
products as determined by regulators.
- The Virginia Cannabis Control Authority would oversee licensing and
regulation of the new industry. Its board of directors would have the
authority to control possession, sale, transportation, distribution,
delivery and testing of marijuana.
- A tax of up to 12.625 percent would apply to the retail sale of any
cannabis product. That would include a state retail and use tax of 1.125
percent on top of a new marijuana-specific tax of 8 percent. Local
governments could levy an additional 3.5 percent.
- Tax revenue would be split between the costs of administering and
enforcing the state’s marijuana system, a new Cannabis Equity Reinvestment
Fund, pre-kindergarten programs, substance use disorder prevention and
treatment programs and public health programs such as awareness campaigns
designed to prevent drug-impaired driving and discourage underage
consumption.
- Local governments could not opt out of allowing marijuana businesses
to operate in their area.
- Delivery services would be allowed.
- Serving sizes would be capped at 10 milligrams THC, with no more than
100 mg THC per package.
- Existing medical cannabis operators could enter the adult-use market
if they pay a $10 million licensing conversion fee.
- Cannabis businesses would have to establish labor peace agreements
with workers.
- A legislative commission would be directed to study adding on-site
consumption licenses and microbusiness cannabis event permits that would
allow licensees to conduct sales at venues like farmers markets or pop-up
locations. It would also investigate the possibility of the Virginia
Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority becoming involved in marijuana
regulations and enforcement.

Newly sworn-in Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D) supports legalizing adult-use
marijuana sales.


*— Marijuana Moment is tracking hundreds of cannabis, psychedelics and drug
policy bills in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon
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Another cannabis bill approved by the Senate Courts of Justice Committee
last week would mandate that individuals with certain offenses
automatically receive resentencing hearings and have their punishments
adjusted. A House companion version from Del. Rozia Henson, Jr. (D) also
advanced recently.

The legislation would create a process by which people who are incarcerated
or on community supervision for certain felony offenses involving the
possession, manufacture, selling or distribution of marijuana could receive
an automatic hearing to consider modification of their sentences.

The bill applies to people whose convictions or adjudications are for
conduct that occurred prior to July 1, 2021, when a state law legalizing
personal possession and home cultivation of marijuana went into effect.

The panel adopted a series of technical changes to the legislation prior to
approving it.

Separately, the Virginia Department of Labor and Industry recently
published a new outlining workplace protections for cannabis consumers.

The post Virginia Lawmakers Approve Bills To Expand Medical Marijuana
Access In Hospitals appeared first on Marijuana Moment.