WV gov vetoes cannabis bill that would tax vertically integrated firms at lower rate

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West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice vetoed a medical marijuana bill because he said it “favors wholly vertically integrated businesses” by taxing them at a lower rate than stand-alone cultivators, processors and retailers.

Mike Pushkin, a Democratic delegate and sponsor of the bill, told The Register-Herald of Beckley that the governor’s veto “sets back the entire (medical marijuana) program” in West Virginia, where sales were scheduled to begin in July but are running behind.

Justice’s veto comes a day after he signed a medical cannabis banking bill into law that will allow financial institutions in the state to bid on providing banking services for medical marijuana businesses.

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