Two different bills to legalize and regulate retail marijuana sales in Virginia cleared a key a crossover deadline last week, increasing hopes among advocates that lawmakers can find consensus on launching a regulated market and send implementation legislation to Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R).
The road to the two measures in their current form has been winding, arguably beginning in 2021, when the state legalized cannabis use and possession. The legislation that passed that session also included a framework for legal sales, but Republicans, after winning control of the House and governor’s office later that year, subsequently blocked the required reenactment of those provisions, leaving consumers with no legal way to purchase products. In the interim, illicit stores have sprung up to meet consumer demand.
Democrats have since retaken control of both chambers of the state legislature, spurring renewed efforts among lawmakers and key stakeholders—including consumer advocates, justice groups, existing medical marijuana operators and small businesses—to push a measure through.
Last week both the House of Delegates and Senate approved HB 698 and SB 448 respectively, sending the measures to the opposite chambers.
Both bills would launch legal, regulated marijuana sales beginning in 2025, though they differ in timing and which
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