Virginia Plan To Legalize Marijuana Sales Heads To Governor’s Desk Following Passage By Both Legislative Chambers

Both chambers of Virginia’s legislature passed identical legislation to legalize recreational marijuana sales on Wednesday, sending the proposal to the desk of Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R).

The governor, however, has already indicated he intends veto the bills—as he did with a similar lawmaker-passed proposal last year.

Lawmakers in the House of Representatives voted 53–44 in favor of SB 970, from Sen. Aaron Rouse (D). That bill passed out of the Senate last month.

The Senate on Wednesday, meanwhile, passed the House version of the legislation, HB 2485, from Del. Paul Krizek (D), on a 21–18 vote. That measure won House approval last week.

There was no debate or discussion on the chamber floors on Wednesday beyond brief remarks describing each measure.

If the proposal were to become law, it would allow adults 21 and older to purchase up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana from regulated, state-licensed retailers.

Use, possession and limited cultivation of cannabis by adults are already legal in Virginia, the result of a Democrat-led proposal 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. Since then, illicit stores have sprung up to meet consumer demand, feeding an illegal market that some estimates value at nearly $3 billion.

Youngkin’s office, for its part, has already signaled that the governor would veto any similar plan if it passes in the coming session.

Asked by Virginia Public Media (VPM) late last year about the likelihood of a veto, Christian Martinez, a spokesperson for the Youngkin, told the outlet: “I think you can cite the fact that time and time again he has been very clear on that.”

Reform advocates, on the other hand, say Youngkin’s opposition to regulated sales is misguided, even if he isn’t a fan of cannabis legalization or use.

“Governor Youngkin’s opposition to these pragmatic measures is completely out of step with Virginians,” JM Pedini, development director for the advocacy group NORML and executive director for Virginia NORML, told Marijuana Moment on Wednesday. “Continuing to cede control of the commonwealth’s marijuana market to unregulated, illicit operators poses substantial health risks for both lawful adult consumers and youth alike.”

“Taking marijuana off the street corner and out of the corner store is a public safety priority, not a political agenda,” Pedini continued. “The governor’s head-in-the-sand approach to cannabis policy endangers the health and safety of his constituents.”

Here’s what Virginia’s reintroduced marijuana sales legislation, SB 970 and HB 2485, would do:

• Retail sales could begin as of May 1, 2026.
• 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 tax of up to 11.625 percent would apply to the retail sale of any cannabis product. That would include a state retail and use tax of 1.125 percent on top of a new marijuana-specific tax of 8 percent. Local governments could levy an additional 2.5 percent.
• 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 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.
• A “historically economically disadvantaged community” is defined as 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.

Krizek and Rouse each sponsored separate legislation last year to legalize a commercial cannabis system in the state, plans that ultimately merged into a compromise proposal that was passed by lawmakers but vetoed by Youngkin.

In a veto message at the time, the governor wrote that “the proposed legalization of retail marijuana in the Commonwealth endangers Virginians’ health and safety.”

Youngkin is ineligible to run for reelection, and advocates hope his replacement will be more favorable to regulated sales. They’ve noted that a handful of Republican leaders in other states have been more open to marijuana reform.

Jason Blanchette, president of the Virginia Cannabis Association, told Marijuana Moment earlier this month that he expects Youngkin would again veto a legal sales bill if it reaches his desk this session, but added that it’s nevertheless important that lawmakers take up the matter.

“We’ve got one more year of Youngkin, and then if we can get it out, get it on his desk, that’ll be two times the Democrats have gotten the exact same bill through,” he said. “The feeling is that’ll set some very strong precedent for the next governor.”

Earlier this month, meanwhile, the full Senate unanimously passed a separate bill that would pave the way for psychedelic-assisted therapy for veterans. It next goes to the House of Delegates.

SB 1101, from Sen. Ghazala Hashmi (D), would establish a six-member state advisory council to study and make further recommendations about treatments involving U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-designated “breakthrough therapies,” including substances such as psilocybin and MDMA.

As introduced by Hashmi last month, the bill would have also created a fund to support clinical trials into breakthrough therapy treatments for veterans, but a substitute adopted in committee removed references to that fund, leaving only the portion of the proposal that would create the advisory council.

“That particular substitute really pares the bill down to create within the Department of Health the Breakthrough Therapies for Veteran Suicide Prevention Advisory Council,” Hashmi said at the time. “One thing that we know is that veteran suicide remains a critical crisis point, with rates significantly higher among veterans than the civilian population. Given the fact that we have such a high veteran community here in Virginia, this legislation is especially necessary.”

The measure is an updated version of a similar proposal last year, SB 229, that cleared the Senate but didn’t make it out of the House.

Also this month, lawmakers advanced proposals that would seal records related to marijuana. An amendment to the record-sealing legislation moved the enactment date of the proposal to July 1, 2026, which staff said was intended to allow Virginia State Police to implement the change.

Pennsylvania Governor Will Put Marijuana Legalization In His Budget, But Top GOP Senator Remains Skeptical

Photo courtesy of Chris Wallis // Side Pocket Images.

The post Virginia Plan To Legalize Marijuana Sales Heads To Governor’s Desk Following Passage By Both Legislative Chambers appeared first on Marijuana Moment.