At its June 26 meeting, the Virginia Cannabis Control Authority was expected to announce which company, among 40 applicants, had been selected from a highly competitive process to become the sole licensed pharmaceutical processor of medical cannabis for a region including the entire Shenandoah Valley, as well as the cities of Charlottesville and Fredericksburg and the counties of Spotsylvania and Stafford.
However, during Wednesday's meeting of the board of directors for the CCA, which began overseeing the state's medical marijuana program in January, Shawn Casey, deputy chief of CCA's regulatory, policy and external affairs office, said CCA staff and legal counsel need more time to study the scoring of the applications and to ensure the authority's choice complies with all regulatory requirements. Casey noted the application materials totaled 16,000 pages.
"Given the great interest in the application process, as shown by the number of applications, … we know the result will be highly scrutinized," Casey said. "We wanted to make sure that we're taking the time necessary to ensure the integrity and comprehensiveness of the recommendation that gets to the board and we'll have an updated timeline whenever we can."
Scoring of the applications was tabulated by five members of a review committee. Jeremy Preiss, the CCA's acting head and chief officer, declined to name the committee members. However, one speaker at the meeting noted that board members Bette Brand and Anthony D. Williams sat on the committee.
Read more at virginiabusiness.com