It's been almost a year since a state agency selected a medical marijuana provider for Virginia's "Health Service Area 1," which includes the Shenandoah Valley, Charlottesville, and Fredericksburg. The chosen company has since faced a legal challenge and ongoing corporate restructuring, and still has no timeline for breaking ground. WMRA's Randi B. Hagi reports.
Last September, the Virginia Cannabis Control Authority selected AYR Virginia, a subsidiary of the multi-state company AYR Wellness, by random lottery to be the medical marijuana provider, or "pharmaceutical processor," for our area. This region is the only one out of five across the state that still does not have any medical cannabis dispensaries.
The company announced a restructuring deal on July 30th made with a committee of creditors that hold a large portion of the company's debt. But Chief Operating Officer George DeNardo said AYR will still be an operational company, just under a new corporate ownership structure.
GEORGE DENARDO: Part of the restructure is to eliminate some of the debt and improve our balance sheets. … We are anticipating a completion around the December-January timeframe.
In their application to the state authority, AYR had listed a property in Frederick County as a possible site for their headquarters. DeNardo said they are now looking at a property in the city of Winchester but have not yet nailed that down. I asked if it would be safe to assume they won't break ground this year.
DENARDO: It all depends, right? We have to get local approval. We have to get the regulators' approval. So there's still a lot of hurdles that we have to get through.
In the past year, six other companies that had applied for the medical marijuana license sued AYR Virginia and the authority over the selection process and FOIA requests they made for scoring materials. That petition was dismissed by a Richmond Circuit Court judge earlier this month.
Pharmaceutical processors normally have one year from the selection date to construct a facility and get local zoning approval, or else they can be denied the full permit – which would start the whole selection process over again for the second time. An agency spokesperson told WMRA via email that due to delays caused by the litigation, AYR had until July 2026 to meet these requirements.
