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Under a 2017 law, West Virginians with prescriptions for medicinal marijuana were supposed to have been able to buy it by this July 1. Don't look for that to happen -- but not necessarily for the reason you may think.
As Ohio's experience teaches us, setting up a medicinal marijuana industry almost from the ground up is no easy business. Buckeye State residents approved such sales before West Virginia, yet the first dispensaries opened just this month.
An enormous number of "ducks" had to be gotten in a row. What would be the requirements for legal marijuana growers? How would doctors prescribing medicinal marijuana be licensed and monitored? The list goes on.
Here in the Mountain State, a big obstacle was finding a way money that changes hands in the medicinal marijuana business could be handled. Banks are prohibited by federal law from dealing with those involved in marijuana, which remains illegal under federal law.
Finally last week, as we reported, a system for handling marijuana industry money was devised.
It is entirely possible the banking plan cannot be implemented in time for medicinal marijuana sales to begin by July 1. That may not be a bad thing.
Now that they need not worry themselves over financial transactions, legislators ought to look into other aspects of planning. This is a new type of business that, for obvious reasons, needs to be gotten just right.