Toward legal sales
Virginia remains in limbo due to lack of lawful marijuana marketplace
The Virginia General Assembly made history two years ago when it voted to legalize personal cultivation of marijuana and possession of the plant in small amounts, becoming the first state in the South to do so.
Unfortunately, the legislation only went halfway. While lawmakers removed criminal punishment for recreational cannabis use, they did not take the necessary steps to establish a commercial market, effectively leaving the commonwealth in limbo.
Now is the time for Virginia to move forward on this issue. Carving out a path to a legal marketplace will provide needed clarity for law enforcement and enable the commonwealth to begin reaping the substantial financial windfall that recreational cannabis is projected to bring.
For Virginia — for much of the country, in fact — the debate over legalizing the recreational use of cannabis no longer centers on the question of “if ” but the questions of “when” and “how.”
Some 37 states, four U.S. territories and the District of Columbia have medical marijuana programs, the oldest (California’s) dating back 27 years. An additional 12 states allow prescriptions of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main psychoactive component of cannabis, in low doses.
Twenty-one states and the District have approved laws allowing personal possession, cultivation and use of marijuana. Virginia joined those ranks in 2021 when the General Assembly passed a law allowing adults 21 and older to possess up to 1 ounce of cannabis without penalty. Adults are also permitted to grow up to four plants at home.
It’s still illegal in Virginia to possess or
sell large amounts of the plant, to consume pot in public and to drive under the influence. But the law contained a couple of key contradictions. While marijuana is legal to grow, it’s still illegal to buy seeds. While it is legal to possess and use, it’s still illegal to sell.
Virginia Democrats, who controlled both chambers of the legislature, couldn’t reach agreement about how best to establish a
legal marketplace, including how to ensure opportunity to minority entrepreneurs and how revenue could best help communities adversely affected by the war on drugs.
So instead, they kicked the can down the road. They set a faraway date for the start of legal sales — 2024 — and promised to return to the issue in 2022. But the 2021 election saw Republicans ascend to the House majority and elevated Glenn Youngkin
to the governor’s office, so Virginia’s construction of a legal market will require bipartisan cooperation.
That could be for the best. Several key Virginia Republicans last year signaled their willingness to work on the issue and to accelerate the start date, though bills to that effect fizzled out. And Youngkin did sign a bill that streamlined the medical marijuana system, which is a promising sign.
The fact is, this should be an easy win for Virginia. The Joint Legislative Audit & Review Commission spelled out in a
2020 report the steps needed to establish a reliable and successful legal marketplace. And it’s not as though the commonwealth needs to invent the wheel; there are plenty of models in other states from which to borrow.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle should want to see this through to provide needed clarity to law enforcement and regulators, who cannot be expected to operate in so uncertain an environment. They are left playing Whac-A-Mole — trying to root out illegal products and acts, but without firm and reliable guidelines for operating in an evolving cannabis landscape.
More importantly, each passing year that Virginia doesn’t follow through is another in which other states can leapfrog the commonwealth and siphon away the potential benefits — up to 18,000 jobs and $308 million in annual revenue, per the JLARC study.
The current situation — one foot in, one foot out — is not sustainable and needs clarity quickly. Lawmakers must reach agreement on how best to establish and regulate a legal marketplace for marijuana in Virginia.