HB2079 Fluharty, Byrd, Westfall & Hornbuckle AM#1

Delegates Fluharty, Byrd, Westfall & Hornbuckle move to amend the committee substitute for HB 2709 on page 1, prior to section 3 by inserting §16A-2-1 with the language amended and restated as follows:

“§16A-2-1.  Definitions.

(a) The following words and phrases when used in this chapter shall have the meanings given to them in this section unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:

(1) “Act” means the West Virginia Medical Cannabis Act and the provisions contained in chapter sixty-a of this code.

(2) “Advisory board” means the advisory board established under article eleven of this chapter.

(3) “Bureau” mean the Bureau for Public Health within the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources.

(4) “Caregiver” means the individual designated by a patient or, if the patient is under eighteen years of age, an individual under article five, to deliver medical cannabis.

(5) “Certified medical use” means the acquisition, possession, use or transportation of medical cannabis by a patient, or the acquisition, possession, delivery, transportation or administration of medical cannabis by a caregiver, for use as part of the treatment of the patient’s serious medical condition, as authorized in a certification under this act, including enabling the patient to tolerate treatment for the serious medical condition.

(6) “Change in control” means the acquisition by a person or group of persons acting in concert of a controlling interest in an applicant or permittee either all at one time or over the span of a 12-consecutive-month period.

(7) “Commissioner” means the Commissioner of the Bureau for Public Health.

(8) “Continuing care” means treating a patient for at least six months, in the course of which the practitioner has completed a full assessment of the patient’s medical history and current medical condition, including an in-person consultation with the patient, and is able to document and make a medical diagnosis based upon the substantive treatment of the patient.

(9) “Controlling interest” means:

(A)  For a publicly traded entity, voting rights that entitle a person to elect or appoint one or more of the members of the board of directors or other governing board or the ownership or beneficial holding of five percent or more of the securities of the publicly traded entity.

(B)  For a privately held entity, the ownership of any security in the entity.

(10) “Dispensary” means a person, including a natural person, corporation, partnership, association, trust or other entity, or any combination thereof, which holds a permit issued by the bureau to dispense medical cannabis. The term does not include a health care medical cannabis organization under article thirteen of this chapter.

(11) “Family or household member” means the same as defined in section two hundred four, article twenty-seven, chapter forty-eight of this code.

(12) “Financial backer” means an investor, mortgagee, bondholder, note holder or other source of equity, capital or other assets, other than a financial institution.

(13) “Financial institution” means a bank, a national banking association, a bank and trust company, a trust company, a savings and loan association, a building and loan association, a mutual savings bank, a credit union or a savings bank.

(14) “Form of medical cannabis” means the characteristics of the medical cannabis recommended or limited for a particular patient, including the method of consumption and any particular dosage, strain, variety and quantity or percentage of medical cannabis or particular active ingredient.

(15) “Fund” means the Medical Cannabis Program Fund established in section two, article nine of this chapter.

(16) “Grower” means a person, including a natural person, corporation, partnership, association, trust or other entity, or any combination thereof, which holds a permit from the bureau under this act to grow medical cannabis. The term does not include a health care medical cannabis organization under article thirteen of this chapter.

(17) “Grower/processor” means either a grower or a processor.

(18) “Identification card” means a document issued under article five of this chapter that authorizes access to medical cannabis under this act.

(19) “Individual dose” means a single measure of medical cannabis.

(20) “Medical cannabis” means cannabis for certified medical use as set forth in this act.

(21) “Medical cannabis organization” means a dispensary, grower or processor. The term does not include a health care medical cannabis organization under article thirteen of this chapter.

(22) “Patient” means an individual who:

(A)  has a serious medical condition;

(B)  has met the requirements for certification under this act; and

(C)  is a resident of this state.

(23) “Permit” means an authorization issued by the bureau to a medical cannabis organization to conduct activities under this act.

(24) “Physician” means a doctor of allopathic or osteopathic medicine who is fully licensed pursuant to the provisions of either article three or article fourteen, chapter thirty of this code to practice medicine and surgery in this state.

 (25) “Post-traumatic stress disorder” means a diagnosis made as part of continuing care of a patient by a medical doctor, licensed counselor or psychologist.

(26) “Practitioner” means a physician who is registered with the bureau under article four of this chapter.

(27) “Prescription drug monitoring program” means the West Virginia Controlled Substances Monitoring program under article nine, chapter sixty-a of this code.

(28) “Principal” means an officer, director or person who directly owns a beneficial interest in or ownership of the securities of an applicant or permittee, a person who has a controlling interest in an applicant or permittee or who has the ability to elect the majority of the board of directors of an applicant or permittee or otherwise control an applicant or permittee, other than a financial institution.

(29) “Processor” means a person, including a natural person, corporation, partnership, association, trust or other entity, or any combination thereof, which holds a permit from the bureau under this act to process medical cannabis. The term does not include a health care medical cannabis organization under article thirteen of this chapter.

(30) “Registry” means the registry established by the bureau for practitioners.

(31) “Serious medical condition” means any of the following, as has been diagnosed as part of a patient’s continuing care:

(A)  Cancer.

(B)  Positive status for human immunodeficiency virus or acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

(C)  Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

(D)  Parkinson’s disease.

(E)  Multiple sclerosis.

(F)  Damage to the nervous tissue of the spinal cord with objective neurological indication of intractable spasticity.

(G)  Epilepsy.

(H)  Neuropathies.

(I)  Huntington’s disease.

(J)  Crohn’s disease.

(K)  Post-traumatic stress disorder.

(L)  Intractable seizures.

(M)  Sickle cell anemia.

(N)  Severe chronic or intractable pain of neuropathic origin or severe chronic or intractable pain in which conventional therapeutic intervention and opiate therapy is contraindicated or has proved ineffective as determined as part of continuing care.

(O) Terminally ill.

(32) “Terminally ill” means a medical prognosis of life expectancy of approximately one year or less if the illness runs its normal course.”