BECKLEY, WV (WOAY) – In January 2024 West Virginia Democratic Delegate Evan Hansen introduced House Bill 4873, which would legalize adult use marijuana if it passes.
A Beckley smoke shop weighs in on what legalization would look like for the Mountain State.
Only Organics‘ owner says he doesn’t think much of House Bill 4873 because it would not really legalize weed, just regulate it more.
“Just giving the average, I guess you could say the privilege to buy weed off of Big Canna,” James Morgan said. “That’s pretty much all it does.”
According to Morgan, if they legalize it he says the bill should make it so the average person could grow marijuana.
“It’s not restricted, so you could have edibles — because not everybody wants to smoke, not everybody can smoke,” he said.
The fallout of this bill, Morgan says would be that people like him would go out of business, as well as those who have hemp dispensaries. The state would first get rid of all THC from hemp products. He says that would leave you stuck in the legalized state of West Virginia where you can’t grow or buy edibles or concentrate. He says hopefully it doesn’t pass.
“I would be all for it if it was an actually good bill; if it actually benefitted the people and not just some of the big players in Big Canna and also in our state legislatures,” he said.
Morgan says it comes down to money and power. What we can do is remember in November if you’re pro-cannabis and pro-medical marijuana and you want to make a difference, find out what your legislators are thinking and the way they want to vote.
“Because yeah, if they pass this bill it’s pretty much done,” he said. “Until they would federally legalize it — West Virginia will always be last/to second to last in just about everything we do; including… legalization.”
