It’s been one year since Virginia’s Cannabis Control Authority took over regulating the state’s nearly two dozen legal medical dispensaries.
There are over 100,000 medical marijuana patients in Virginia, an increase from just under 90,000 last year. That’s according to new numbers from Virginia’s Cannabis Control Authority, a new agency created to monitor the substance in the wake of expanding the state’s medical program a few years back.
The authority also released its first patient survey offering feedback to the state’s fledgling medical program. About half of the 800 patients who responded were satisfied with the program, but over 80% plan to renew their medical patient certification, the state-documentation process that gets someone access to legal medical products.
Most of the dissatisfaction was related to price and the limited availability of dispensaries. There are about two dozen spread across the state.
And while nearly 60% spend about $200 or more a month on medical weed products, 74% said it was a reasonable cost.
Ngiste Abebe is a citizen member of the CCA’s oversight board and works to expand patient access to medical marijuana. She said the kind of data the agency produced was rare, but it had two valuable lessons:
“One: A majority of patients are finding pretty serious relief from cannabis and that’s always a great thing, finding a medical program is serving its priorities," Abebe told Radio IQ after Monday's meeting. "And two, there’ still some obstacles in integrating the medical program into people’s normal healthcare experiences.”
And while Abebe’s role on the CCA isn’t about making legislative suggestions, she did point to a few options that can open up access; in New York they reduced cost barriers to certification— Virginia patient costs vary depending on which medical professional you see. And taking steps to get it covered by insurance providers in some cases, like they did in New Mexico, could also be helpful.
“Both patients and insurers were much happier when chronic pain can be managed with cannabis because it was leading to fewer addiction problems,” Abebe said.
Recommendations offered at the end of Monday’s meeting included allowing patients to conduct their first visit at dispensaries, lowering products’ cost and increasing the variety of products.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
