The Virginia Senate has approved a bill to provide legal protections for hospital workers to facilitate the use of medical marijuana for patients with terminal illnesses in their facilities, so long as cannabis is federally rescheduled.
At the same time, a House subcommittee advanced a pair of proposals that share the goal of permitting medical marijuana access to seriously ill patients in health facilities—though they take a different approach to the issue.
The Senate passed its version of the legislation, sponsored by Sen. Barbara Favola (D), in a 39-1 vote on Tuesday—about a week after the proposal unanimously advanced through the Senate Education and Health Committee.
SB 332 would build upon existing state law protecting health professionals at hospices and nursing facilities that assist terminally ill patients in utilizing medical cannabis treatment. Those protections would be expanded to hospital workers.
“Cannabis oil has been effective in ameliorating some severe pain and also helping with nausea and appetite loss,” Favola said ahead of the Senate vote on Tuesday. “This bill has a couple guardrails in it, and we’re merely trying to treat patients in hospitals and give them the same options as we’ve currently giving patients in nursing homes and in
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