Medical weed cards will no longer be required in Virginia effective July 1

One week from today, medicinal cannabis patients in Virginia will no longer need to present a card at a pharmacy to receive their prescribed products.

That’s thanks to a bill signed into law in April that removed the requirement “that patients register with the State’s Board of Pharmacy for a license,” according to local news outlet WRIC.

But according to the legal text, the new law still “retains the requirement that patients receive written certification from a healthcare provider for medicinal cannabis,” while also directing the Board of Pharmacists to “enact numerous regulations related to pharmaceutical processors.”

The new law, which officially goes into effect on July 1, aims to improve the efficiency of the process for patients to obtain medicinal cannabis in Virginia.

Once it goes into effect next week, these patients will be able to obtain their cannabis products in stores once they receive written certification from a healthcare provider.

Aside from “allowing them to avoid waiting for board approval, a process that can take months, the law will also allow patients not to have to pay a $50 application fee,” WRIC reported.

The measure was signed into law more than two months ago by Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a first-term Republican.

In addition to removing the registration requirement, the law also “amends the definition of ‘cannabis oil’ by removing the requirement that only industrial hemp oil be used in the formulation of cannabis oil.”

Cannabis advocates are celebrating the law taking effect in April and saying it will provide a needed cure for thousands of medicinal cannabis patients in Virginia. According to WRIC, data from “Virginia’s Board of Pharmacy shows a total of nearly 47,000 registered patients and thousands of pending applications, a backlog that has forced the board to hire new staff.”

“These legislative improvements will bring great relief to the thousands of Virginians awaiting access to the medical cannabis program,” said JM Pedini, Director of Development of NORML and Executive Director of Virginia NORML. “We hear from dozens of Virginians every week who are struggling with the registration process and frustrated because they have to wait 60 days to get their approval from the Board of Pharmacy.”

Virginia’s medical cannabis law began in 2017, although initially it only “allowed patients with intractable epilepsy to use some types of cannabis oil with a doctor’s certificate,” according to the Marijuana Policy Project.

The program has since expanded to include other cannabis products such as edibles and bud.

Last year, Virginia went a step further when it legalized recreational cannabis use for adults, becoming the first Southern state to do so.

But this law went into effect under a Democratic governor and a Democratic-controlled legislature, and was implemented without a regulated market for cannabis sales.

As WRIC put it, this meant that “the Commonwealth’s medical cannabis program became the only legal market for humans”.

Youngkin took office earlier this year and said he has no intention of repealing the law allowing personal possession, but the outlook for retail sales still seems uncertain.

“When it comes to commercialization, I think there is still a lot to do. I’m not against it, but there’s still work to be done,” Youngkin said in an interview shortly before taking office. “There are some non-starters, including the forced unionization that is in the current bill. Law enforcement officials have raised concerns about how the loophole in the laws will actually be enforced. Finally, it is imperative to ensure that we are not promoting an anti-competitive industry. I understand there are preferences to ensure all participants in the industry are qualified to do the industry well.”