Virginia lawmakers have approved a bill to allow qualifying patients to access medical marijuana in hospitals—but only after the federal government finalizes a pending proposal to reschedule cannabis.
The Senate Education and Health Committee voted 14-0 on Thursday to advance the legislation from Sen. Barbara Favola (D), days after it advanced through a subcommittee. The legislation 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 under the substitute version of the bill that was approved by the subcommittee.
As originally introduced, the measure would have simply directed the state the Department of Health to form a working group to explore the reform, but its scope was expanded in the subcommittee.
Sen. Lamont Bagby (D) said at Thursday’s hearing that the bill “directs the Board of Health to promulgate regulations specifying hospital staff may store, dispense and administer cannabis oil when a patient has valid certification, and it exempts such staff from criminal penalties or possessions of cannabis oil.”
Unlike other states where similar laws are in place or being considered this session—a policy known as “Ryan’s law,” named after a young medical marijuana patient in California who passed away—the Virginia bill would only extend the protections to hospital settings if cannabis is federally rescheduled.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order in December directing the attorney general to expeditiously move marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), but that’s yet to materialize.
Meanwhile in Virginia, lawmakers are also considering more robust reforms to the state’s marijuana laws, including proposals to legalize recreational cannabis sales.
A recent poll found that lawmakers seeking to allow commercial marijuana sales have the support of a majority of registered voters.
The survey results come as committees in the Virginia House of Delegates and Senate have recently approved bills to legalize and regulate the adult-use cannabis market.
While there are some differences between the chambers’ bills, the overall proposals largely align with recommendations released last month by the legislature’s Joint Commission to Oversee the Transition of the Commonwealth into a Cannabis Retail Market.
Since legalizing cannabis possession and home cultivation in 2021, Virginia lawmakers have worked to establish a commercial marijuana market—only to have those efforts consistently stalled under former Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R), who twice vetoed measures to enact it that were sent to his desk by the legislature.
Newly sworn-in Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D) supports legalizing adult-use marijuana sales.
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Meanwhile, Virginia lawmakers have filed other marijuana-related legislation for the 2026 session, including a proposal to provide resentencing relief for people convicted of past cannabis crimes.
Separately, the Virginia Department of Labor and Industry recently published a new outlining workplace protections for cannabis consumers.
