While it’s already legal in Virginia for residents 21 or older to grow up to four cannabis plants and to possess one ounce, the adult-use legalization bill that Gov. Ralph Northam signed into law in April includes a 2024 launch date for sales. And a lot can change between now and then. One such change, for example, was proposed during last week’s first meeting of the legislature’s Joint Commission on Cannabis Oversight. The state’s existing handful of medical cannabis operators, known in the state as “pharmaceutical processors,” proposed, in response to an agenda item on “expediting legal access and commercial sales,” that they start first. The existing operators in the state include some of the largest cannabis companies in the country, like Green Thumb Industries, Columbia Care, and Jushi. These companies are registered to lobby, too, according to registrations reviewed by Cannabis Wire.
Nushin Rashidian, Cannabis Wire, 08/24/2021 20:00:00