RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia’s Board of Pharmacy on Tuesday approved five companies that will open the commonwealth’s first medical cannabis dispensaries for non-psychoactive CBD and THC-A oils.
The five companies that won the bids from Virginia were Pharma Cann (HSA 1), Dalitso (HSA 2), Dharama (HSA 3), Green Leaf (HSA 4) and Columbia Care (HSA 5), according to the Virginia Pharmacists Association via Facebook.The companies represent one cannabis pharmaceutical processor per Virginia’s five health districts. Each company will serve those wanting to use CBD and THC-A oils in their district.
District 5, which stretches beyond Williamsburg all the way to Virginia Beach, will be served by Columbia Care. Columbia Care describes its self as “The premier provider of medical marijuana services and pharmaceutical-grade products to qualifying patients in New York and the US.”
According to officials, the bids awarded for these pharmaceutical processors are conditional license. All five companies will have to follow guidelines and submit further planning to the board as part of the license that will allow these dispensaries to open their doors as early as 2019.
The Virginia Board of Pharmacy had 51 applicants hoping to become medical marijuana dispensaries across the state when they broke the news about setting up medical cannabis dispensaries in the state. Virginia is allowing only one dispensary per district.
The Virginia Senate and House both passed House Bill 1251 in late February, and after being signed into law by Gov. Ralph Northam, the state had legalized the use of cannabidiol (CBD) oil or THC-A oil for the treatment to alleviate the symptoms of any diagnosed condition or disease determined by the practitioner in Virginia.
