Virginia to keep CBD-only medical cannabis licensing review secret

The state panel that will award Virginia’s first five CBD-only medical marijuana business licenses will keep the application review process confidential.

Virginia Board of Pharmacy chair Rafael Saenz announced Tuesday that the 51 applications would be considered in closed session, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported.

Regulators conferred about Virginia’s public-meeting law for 30 minutes, before a decision was made to close the entire review process because of the type of business.

MMJ business applications are being treated as if they were for medical licenses, so they are therefore exempt from the Virginia Freedom of Information Act – unlike other business proposals.

The pharmacy board’s executive director, Caroline Juran, said the attorney general’s office provided advice on the situation.

The presiding committee released initial application scores but did not identify the companies by name. The review process is expected to take two days.

Virginia requires companies vying for MMJ licenses to be vertically integrated, and the first wave of licensees will produce only CBD or THC-A oils, which are nonintoxicating.

– Associated Press