Paul C. Galanides

Based in Richmond, Paul C. Galanides handles cannabis and marijuana law matters in Virginia. With 29 years since admission, Galanides is a graduate of University of Kentucky College of Law. Alongside cannabis matters, Galanides handles appellate practice, which in cannabis matters often means reviewing an agency decision, the criminal side of a legal market, meaning unlicensed sales, over-limit possession and diversion cases and cannabis DUI defense, where blood THC levels are a poor proxy for impairment at the time of driving.

Virginia regulates both adult-use and medical cannabis, so legal work in the state runs from licensing and local approvals through packaging, advertising and seed-to-sale tracking rules, alongside the criminal matters that still arise around unlicensed activity and possession above the legal limit. The Virginia Cannabis Control Authority administers the state program. It is a state where adult possession and home cultivation are already lawful and a licensed retail market has been authorized but has not yet opened.