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MARIJUANA MOMENT
AFTER VIRGINIA GOP GOVERNOR’S MARIJUANA VETO, DEMOCRATIC SENATORS SAY LEGAL
SALES LIKELY WON’T HAPPEN UNTIL 2027 OR LATER
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POLITICS
AFTER VIRGINIA GOP GOVERNOR’S MARIJUANA VETO, DEMOCRATIC SENATORS SAY LEGAL
SALES LIKELY WON’T HAPPEN UNTIL 2027 OR LATER
Published
3 seconds ago
on
April 16, 2024
By
Ben Adlin
Democratic senators in support of legal marijuana sales in Virginia said at a
recent event that in light of Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s (R) veto of a retail
cannabis bill last month, it will likely be 2027 or later before adult-use shops
can legally open their doors.
“I’m very direct, and sometimes folks don’t like to hear the harsh truth, but
it’s the harsh truth,” said Sen. Aaron Rouse (D), who sponsored the retail sales
bill in the Senate. “There’s a really big mountain to climb with this governor
and his administration. I think he will veto setting up an adult cannabis market
regardless of what we send him.”
“By 2027, there will be a new governor in Virginia,” added Sen. Adam Ebbin (D),
who sponsored marijuana sales legislation this session and in years past. “It’s
possible that after the 2025 gubernatorial election, that someone will take
office in January of 2026 who would sign an adult-use marketplace bill.”
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“That means that, whether it was in 2027 or thereabouts,” Ebbin continued, “we
could expect to see more a regulated market for non-medical use or adult use in
Virginia.”
Use, possession and limited cultivation of cannabis by adults is already legal
in the commonwealth, the result of a Democrat-led proposal sponsored by Ebbin
that was approved by lawmakers in 2021. But Republicans, after winning control
of the House and governor’s office later that year, subsequently blocked the
required reenactment of a regulatory framework for retail sales.
This year, with Democrats in control of both legislative chambers, lawmakers
passed a new legal sales bill, sending it to Youngkin for his consideration in
late February. A month later, the governor vetoed the bill, writing in a veto
message that “the proposed legalization of retail marijuana in the Commonwealth
endangers Virginians’ health and safety.”
“Addressing the inconsistencies in enforcement and regulation in Virginia’s
current laws does not justify expanding access to cannabis,” the governor said.
Rouse and Ebbin spoke about Youngkin’s veto and the outlook for the future of
retail cannabis sales at a webinar hosted by the Arlington Committee of 100 last
week.
“I’m not going to try to rationalize the governor’s statement,” Ebbin said at
the event, noting that Youngkin “has been antagonistic to this
now-legal-to-possess plant in Virginia throughout his remarks on cannabis.”
Still, he acknowledged that supporters likely don’t have the votes to override
Youngkin’s veto during this week’s veto session in the legislature “because the
bill passed by a fairly slim margin.”
“We’d need to actually attract support from the governor’s party, and we don’t
anticipate that happening,” the senator said. “So we have to get in a mode where
we start over in a future year.”
Added Rouse: “This is a great starting point for us… But ultimately, I think we
will just have to wait our time until we get a more friendlier person into the
governor’s mansion.”
In the House, Del. Paul Krizek (D), who led this year’s cannabis retail bill in
that chamber, has already said he’s intending to support a legal sales bill next
session.
“We really did craft a wonderful piece of bicameral legislation that even
garnered bipartisan support, albeit not as many members as I would have
expected, but that was probably due to Governor’s antipathy toward it,” he told
Marijuana Moment after Youngkin’s veto. “So, we have a bill we can introduce
next session that will only need some minor adjustments (I did see some small
improvements we can make) and gives us a head start.”
Ebbin made a similar pledge during the recent webinar.
“As I have for several years, I’ll keep fighting for a regulated and safe
recreational adult-use cannabis marketplace and continue to welcome folks
joining me legislatively,” he said. “It’s well past time for the governor and
his Republican colleagues to take this seriously.”
Rouse and Ebbin were initially at odds over how to structure retail cannabis
sales when this legislative session began. A bill from Ebbin, SB 423,
prioritized opening the legal market quickly, by allowing the state’s existing
medical marijuana operators to sell recreational products almost immediately.
Rouse’s measure, by contrast, would take longer to implement legal sales but
ensure that no single group of operators got a head start.
Ebbin said late last year that he was “confident” a legal sales proposal could
reach the governor’s desk.
But when asked about concerns from some advocates earlier this year that
Youngkin would veto whatever measure lawmakers sent to his desk, Ebbin replied:
“I’m working to pass a bill. You want me to talk about hypotheticals, about what
could happen if it was vetoed, when it hasn’t even passed yet?”
Ebbin championed Virginia’s 2021 marijuana legalization law and, last
legislative session, was the sponsor of another legal sales bill that was
blocked by the then-Republican-controlled House.
Ahead of the veto, Youngkin had hinted at his intentions to veto the bill,
telling a local reporter: “Anybody who thinks I’m going to sign that legislation
must be smoking something.”
At one point earlier this session, however, it appeared the retail cannabis bill
could become part of a grand deal between Youngkin and legislative Democrats. In
December, Senate President Pro Tempore Louise Lucas (D) alluded to a compromise
involving a sports stadium project the governor supported. But that deal never
materialized, and Democrats left the governor’s proposed arena plan out of
budget legislation.
The legislation sent to Youngkin would have begun licensing marijuana businesses
later this year, with sales slated to kick off on May 1, 2025. Sales to adults
21 and older of up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana flower would be allowed, with
purchases taxed at 11.625 percent. Local governments could ban marijuana
establishments, but only with the support of local voters.
Here’s what Virginia’s lawmaker-passed retail sales legislation would have done:
* Retail sales could begin as of May 1, 2025.
* Adults would be able to purchase up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana in a single
transaction, or up to an equivalent amount of other cannabis products as
determined by regulators.
* A state tax of 11.625 percent would apply to the retail sale of any cannabis
product. Of that, 8 percent would go to the state, local governments would
get 2.5 percent and 1.125 percent would fund schools.
* The Virginia Cannabis Control Authority would oversee licensing and
regulation of the new industry. Its board of directors would have the
authority to control possession, sale, transportation, distribution, delivery
and testing of marijuana.
* Local governments could ban marijuana establishments, but only if voters
first approve an opt-out referendum.
* Locations of retail outlets could not be within 1,000 feet of another
marijuana retailer.
* Cultivators would be regulated by space devoted to marijuana cultivation,
known as canopy size. Both indoor and outdoor marijuana cultivation would be
allowed, though only growers in lower tiers—with lower limits on canopy
size—could grow plants outside. Larger growers would need to cultivate plants
indoors. Secure greenhouses would qualify as indoor cultivation.
* Only direct, face-to-face transactions would be permitted. The legislation
would prohibit the use of other avenues, such as vending machines,
drive-through windows, internet-based sales platforms and delivery services.
* Existing medical marijuana providers that enter the adult-use market could
apply to open up to five additional retail establishments, which would need
to be colocated at their existing licensed facilities.
* Serving sizes would be capped at 10 milligrams THC, with no more than 100 mg
THC per package.
* No person could be granted or hold an interest in more than five total
licenses, not including transporter licenses.
* People with convictions for felonies or crimes involving moral turpitude
within the past seven years would be ineligible to apply for licensing, as
would employees of police or sheriff’s departments if they’re responsible for
enforcement of the penal, traffic or motor vehicle laws of the commonwealth.
* An equity-focused microbusiness program would grant licenses to entities at
least two-thirds owned and directly controlled by eligible applicants, which
include people with past cannabis misdemeanors, family members of people with
past convictions, military veterans, individuals who’ve lived at least three
of the past five years in a “historically economically disadvantaged
community,” people who’ve attended schools in those areas and individuals who
received a federal Pell grant or attended a college or university where at
least 30 percent of students are eligible for Pell grants.
* “Historically economically disadvantaged community” is an area that has
recorded marijuana possession offenses at or above 150 percent of the
statewide average between 2009 and 2019.
* Tax revenue from the program would first cover the costs of administering and
enforcing the state’s cannabis system. After that, 60 percent of remaining
funds would go toward supporting the state’s Cannabis Equity Reinvestment
Fund, 25 percent would fund substance use disorder treatment and prevention,
10 percent would go to pre-K programs for at-risk children and 5 percent
would fund a public health and awareness campaign.
* Adults could also share up to 2.5 ounces with other adults without financial
remuneration, though gray-market “gifting” of marijuana as part of another
transaction would be punishable as a Class 2 misdemeanor and a Class 1
misdemeanor on second and subsequent offenses.
* A number of other new criminal penalties would be created. Knowingly selling
or giving marijuana or marijuana paraphernalia to someone under 21, for
example, would be a Class 1 misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in jail
and a maximum $2,500 fine, as would knowingly selling cannabis to someone
reasonably believed to be intoxicated. It would also be a Class 1 misdemeanor
to advertise the sale of marijuana paraphernalia to people under 21.
* Knowingly obtaining marijuana on behalf of someone under 21 would be a Class
1 misdemeanor.
* People under 21 who possess or use marijuana, or attempt to obtain it, would
be subject to a civil penalty of no more than $25 and ordered to enter a
substance use disorder treatment and/or education program.
* Illegal cultivation or manufacture of marijuana, not including legal
homegrow, would be a Class 6 felony, punishable by up to five years
imprisonment and a $2,500 fine.
* People could process homegrown marijuana into products such as edibles, but
butane extraction or the use of other volatile solvents would be punishable
as a Class 1 misdemeanor.
—
Marijuana Moment is tracking more than 1,400 cannabis, psychedelics and drug
policy bills in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon supporters
pledging at least $25/month get access to our interactive maps, charts and
hearing calendar so they don’t miss any developments.
Learn more about our marijuana bill tracker and become a supporter on Patreon to
get access.
—
The governor this session also greeted less controversial marijuana reforms
coldly. In March, he vetoed a separate House proposal that would have prevented
the state from using marijuana alone as evidence of child abuse or neglect
despite the measure winning unanimous or near-unanimous approval in votes on the
Senate floor. Last month he blocked the Senate version that measure.
One cannabis reform that did win Youngkin’s signature this session was
legislation to allow public sector workers like firefighters and teachers to use
legal medical marijuana without fear of losing their jobs. The governor signed
that bill earlier this month.
In addition to vetoing the legal sales bill, Youngkin also blocked a separate
bill last month to provide resentencing relief for people incarcerated for
cannabis.
It’s not yet clear whether lawmakers might attempt to override any of the
governor’s other vetoes. The legislature is set to begin its veto session on
Wednesday.
> Bipartisan Lawmakers Discuss Marijuana Banking Bill Prospects, With GOP
> Senator Worrying Reform Will Promote Fentanyl Trafficking
Photo courtesy of M a n u e l.
Marijuana Moment is made possible with support from readers. If you rely on our
cannabis advocacy journalism to stay informed, please consider a monthly Patreon
pledge.
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Ben Adlin
Ben Adlin, a senior editor at Marijuana Moment, has been covering cannabis and
other drug policy issues professionally since 2011. He was previously a senior
news editor at Leafly, an associate editor at the Los Angeles Daily Journal and
a Coro Fellow in Public Affairs. He lives in Washington State.
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