First Medical Cannabis Dispensary Opens in West Virginia
Nearly four years after legalizing medical cannabis, West Virginia has seen the opening of its first dispensary. Trulieve Cannabis debuted a retail location in Morgantown on Friday, with a second shop opening in Weston Monday.
Trulieve announced the opening of its first dispensary in West Virginia last week. The company also plans to open its second retail location in Weston on Monday.
“We look forward to serving West Virginia patients, who have been patiently waiting for this day to arrive,” said Trulieve CEO Kim Rivers.
The company, which operates in 11 states, has a 100,000 square foot cultivation facility at Huntington. Trulieve says it has scaled its cultivation capacity to meet patient demand and plans to open more dispensary storefronts across West Virginia in the year ahead.
“Our team is especially eager to leverage our first-mover advantage to bolster local economies by creating sustainable jobs and investing in marginalized communities,” said Ms. Rivers.
The 2017 West Virginia state law allows for medical cannabis use in: pill; oil; topical forms including gels, creams or ointments; a form medically appropriate for administration by vaporization or nebulization, dry leaf or plant form; tincture; liquid; or dermal patch. This would include the ability of dispensaries to sell cannabis flower for vaporization purposes.
In order to access and buy products from a dispensary, residents must have a West Virginia medical marijuana card. The application process requires a waiver that can cost $50, plus patients must have one or more of the following conditions to be eligible:
Cancer
Position status for human immunodeficiency virus or acquired immune deficiency syndrome
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
Parkinson’s disease
Multiple sclerosis
Damage to the nervous tissue of the spinal cord with objective neurological indication of intractable spasticity
Epilepsy
Neuropathies
Huntington’s disease
Crohn’s disease
Post-traumatic stress disorder
Intractable seizures
Sickle cell anemia
Severe chronic or intractable pain of neuropathic origin or severe chronic or intractable pain
Terminal illness that is defined as a medical prognosis of life expectancy of approximately one year or less if the illness runs its normal course
West Virginia regulators awarded 10 medical cannabis cultivation permits in October 2020, with original plans for the sales to begin in Spring of 2021.
The cultivation license award winners included at least three multi-state operators — New York-based Columbia Care, Illinois-headquartered Verano Holdings and Massachusetts-based Holistic Industries — as well as a number of out-of-state and West Virginia investors. There were also 10 processors licenses given out.
Despite only having two running dispensaries as of now, West Virginia gave out 100 total dispensary licenses. With all the applicants approved, it is a matter of time before more dispensaries start to open across the state to give patients better access to medical cannabis.