West Virginia House Passes Bill to Allocate Medical Cannabis Tax Revenue

Lawmakers in the West Virginia House of Delegates passed a bill to allocate the state’s unspent medical cannabis tax revenue, which has been accumulating since the program’s 2021 launch, Mountain State Spotlight reports.

Lawmakers voted 79-12 on Wednesday to advance HB 5074, which proposes divying up the revenue in three directions:

• $10 million in research grants for Marshall University and West Virginia University to investigate the psychedelic ibogaine as a potential treatment for mental illnesses.
• $5 million towards homeless prevention.
• $3 million to fund the Child Protection Commission, a state foster care pilot program.

The funds, which recently reached $38 million, are held in an account by the West Virginia Treasurer’s Office, which said last year officials would not access the money until federal law changes to recognize the cannabis program’s legality.

The proposal is now in the Senate Finance Committee. Sen. Mike Woelfel (D), a committee member, said that he preferred the tax framework under the state’s original medical cannabis legislation:

“I felt like we had a pretty good balance before, when we passed the bill that I wrote, so I’ll be anxious to look at those changes. I don’t want to waste the money on something not dedicated to cannabis.” — Woelfel, in the report