The Virginia Cannabis Control Authority, which has been acting for more than three year announced on Wednesday that the chief was retiring.
According to a CCA release, Jeremy Preiss who served as acting chief and officer for regulatory, policy, and external affairs and the CCA’s interim head since January 20, 2022 will be succeeded by Jamie Patten.
John Keohane said, “The CCA Board is thankful for Preiss’s dedication to CCA and Commonwealth,” in a press release. His leadership and expertise were crucial in getting the agency up and running, developing its mandate, and building the operations and regulatory structure. We have confidence in Patten’s ability to move the agency forward. “(Patten brings) a wealth experience in public management and a commitment to CCA’s missions.”
Prices did not give any reason for his resignation, but he said that he was “confident the best days of (CCA) lie ahead with (Patten’s) capable leadership.”
Patten promised that CCA will “continue to do its important work, with an emphasis on public safety and health as well as community protection.”
The leadership transition at the agency – which oversees the state’s medical marijuana market – came just one day after Gov. Glenn Youngkin has vetoed the bill which would have sparked legal marijuana sales across Massachusetts.
But given the political will within the state legislature to get an adult-use market launched – 2025 was the second year in a row that Youngkin vetoed a recreational marijuana market bill – oversight of a new and growing industry could be part of Patten’s job in the not-too-distant future.