Illinois-based PharmaCann has taken Virginia to court over a medical cannabis business license that the company claims is rightfully theirs, even though state officials have solicited new bids for the permit.
PharmaCann’s suit requests that the application process be halted.
State regulators contend the license – one of five they awarded – is fair game because it has gone unused since Virginia launched MMJ sales last year.
According to the News Leader, the license is in limbo because of a failed 2019 merger between PharmaCann and California-based MedMen.
When the merger fell through, PharmaCann reportedly sold the permit in question to MedMen for $10.
But, a year later, Virginia regulators revoked the license because MedMen hadn’t opened an MMJ business at the Staunton site for which the permit was intended.
State regulators then reopened the application process with the goal of awarding the fifth MMJ license to a new winner by the end of March 2021.
But PharmaCann filed suit against the Virginia Board of Pharmacy in an effort to reclaim the MMJ permit, the Staunton newspaper reported.
Though there have been multiple hearings over the issue, the case still is pending before a Virginia court and the fate of the license remains unclear.
