Last week WV Governor Jim Justice (great name) signed into law a bill passed by the state legislature to permit the production and sale of medical marijuana in the state. This makes West Virginia the 29th US state to legalize medical marijuana. It is also one of the few states acting through legislation rather than requiring approval of the voters in a referendum.

It does seem that the legalization train is very much out of the station and it appears only a matter of time before most, if not all states permit at least medical marijuana. There is more and more evidence of the potentially wide range of help for illnesses and maladies well beyond simply helping chemotherapy patients reduce nausea. For example, earlier this year a case was studied seeming to indicate that cannabis extract can be used to treat serious wounds.

Our President and his spokesman both have indicated their support of legalizing medical marijuana. In the meantime, we continue to carefully monitor the interplay between the state and federal regimes.