Virginia Senate OKs bill expanding marijuana oil uses

The Virginia Senate has approved a bill expanding the number of ailments that can be treated with two derivatives of the marijuana plant.

The chamber voted Thursday on the measure that allows people with cancer, HIV, Crohn's disease, multiple sclerosis and a number of other diseases to access cannabidiol oil or THC-A oil with written certification by a practitioner.

Current law allows the oils, which don't create a high, to be used only for intractable epilepsy.

Republican Sen. Dick Black said he worried such legislation could open the door for legalized marijuana.

Democratic Sen. Dick Saslaw disputed that idea, saying "we're not going to become a nation of potheads" because people with ailments are using the oils.

The measure still needs approval from the House of Delegates.

WHSV has

spoken with families in the Valley

before whose children could greatly benefit from medical marijuana due to a variety of diseases.

A bill that

would have allowed marijuana to be grown in the state

for medicinal uses was proposed in Virginia last month.

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