West Virginia Treasurer’s Office Still Has Not Released $34M in Medical Cannabis-Derived Funds 

West Virginia has still not spent $34 million collected from the state’s
medical cannabis program as required by law, Mountain State Spotlight reports. The
state Treasurer’s Office in October said the funds would not be spent until
changes in federal law were made. At that time, State Sen. Mike Woelfel
(D) indicated he had talked to State Treasurer Larry Pack about the issue.
Pack, according to Woelfel, indicated he had assembled a team of experts
to look into it.

Woelfel told the Spotlight he has not heard anything new about the status
of the funds.

Carrie Hodousek, spokesperson for the Treasurer’s Office, told
the Spotlight that “a resolution is coming” but offered no specific
details and indicated that there is currently no plan for spending the
funds.

Since the first dispensary opened in the state in 2021, West Virginia has
collected funds from taxes, licensing fees, and interest, but the money is
being held at a credit union under the control of the Treasurer’s Office.
The state’s medical cannabis law included the establishment of a medical
cannabis research program; however, state Department of Health spokesperson
Gailyn Markham told the Spotlight that the program has not been created
because the funds have not been released.

If the entire fund was distributed today, about $19 million would go back
to the Bureau for Public Health within the Department of Health; nearly $8
million to the Fight Substance Abuse Fund overseen by the Department of
Health; $6 million would be sent to the Division of Justice and Community
Services; and $1.5 million to a special revenue account for law enforcement
professional training and professional development programs.