The first Medical Marijuana seminar was hosted in West Virginia at the Morgantown Event Center. This is an overview of the new medical cannabis law in the state of West Virginia.
“Our goal is to give perspective to people who are either looking to enter the industry, whether it would be as an owner or operator, or maybe an employee, to give them a little bit of overview and guidelines on how this is going to work and how we can get into this industry and maybe from a patient or caregiver aspect, how will it affect them as well,” said Michael Patterson, Leader of the Seminar and CEO of US Cannabis Pharmaceutical Research and Development.
In April, West Virginia’s governor signed a comprehensive medical marijuana bill into law allowing the state to begin forming the infrastructure of this new industry.
“This is only going to happen once. Legalization in the state of West Virginia for Medical Cannabis is only happening once, and this is the time where people can come who have no experience whatsoever. They don’t need a degree, You just need a lot of hard work, and perseverance, and you can succeed in this business because it’s the only time in history where you don’t have to have any experience and you can get a job,” said Patterson.
“I think the biggest majority of the attendees are here to seek a license when the application process comes out to either be a dispenser or grower or a processor, in the industry, taking up one of those 50 licenses that will be available in 2019,” said Russ Cersosimo, founder of the Pennsylvania Medical Cannabis Society.
Organizers say that Cannabis will help decrease the severity of the Opioid Epidemic.
“I think in general Cannabis is going to be great for West Virginia, and it’s going to help cut down on the Opioid epidemic. In states where cannabis is available and an option, there’s a 25% reduction in Opioid overdose prescription deaths. So knowing what the problem is here in West Virginia with the Opioid epidemic, it will drastically reduce that and give people other available options for relief,” said Cersosimo.
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