A Virginia legislative commission convened another meeting where lawmakers and advocates discussed plans to prepare the state to legalize recreational marijuana sales.
Del. Paul Krizek (D), chair of the Joint Commission to Oversee the Transition of the Commonwealth into a Cannabis Retail Market, began Monday’s meeting by noting it would be the second-to-last for the body—saying that at the next and final one in December, members will “go over the bill that we are working on now.”
The plan is for the body to suggest a proposal that the full legislature can consider passing in the 2026 session that begins in January.
“Outside of these meetings [as a commission], we’ve been meeting with every stakeholder that we possibly could, to get as much input into what will be a recommendation,” Sen. Lashrecse Aird (D), the panel’s vice chair said.
Use and possession of marijuana has been legal in Virginia since 2022, but retail sales remain forbidden—a situation that’s helped fuel a multibillion-dollar illicit market. Despite efforts by Democrats in past years to legalize and regulate the retail system, Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) has stood in the way of the reform, vetoing proposals passed by lawmakers during each of the last two sessions.
At the legislative commission’s first meeting in July, members discussing broad regulatory considerations and other issues related to THC potency, the hemp market and more. In August, the panel focused on cannabis taxes and revenue.
At Monday’s third meeting, lawmakers and witnesses explored issues related to transitioning from medical marijuana to a full-scale recreational cannabis market—with several presentations focused on how to ensure a fair and competitive industry that doesn’t disproportionately benefit existing multi-state operators while limiting opportunities for newer, smaller businesses.
JM Pedini, executive director for Virginia NORML and development director at NORML’s national organization, gave an overview of the state’s existing medical cannabis program, describing how it has prepared the state to eventually expand into adult-use sales.
“We are already regulating cannabis in Virginia, and we’ve been doing so for some time,” they said. “This is not an undertaking that was that was done lightly.”
Pedini also argued for the importance of centering consumers, rather than businesses, in conversations about effective marijuana policy.
“We don’t have a cannabis industry in the United States without cannabis consumers,” the NORML activist said. “So if we aren’t prioritizing consumer needs, then we’re already falling short.”
Ngiste Abebe of the KND Group spoke to lawmakers about lessons from other states that have launched recreational marijuana markets after having medical cannabis already in place.
She said that key considerations include protecting public safety, maintaining patient access, ensuring fair markets and taking advantage of revenue generation opportunities.
The areas “overlap significantly,” she said, “and they interact with each other a lot. The choices you make about public safety will impact how much revenue [and] the choices you make about patient access will impact, public safety, back and forth.”
Abebe urged lawmakers to limit the ability of localities to ban marijuana businesses from operating, saying it has been shown to have “huge unintended consequences” in other states. When consumers don’t have nearby licensed and regulated businesses to purchase cannabis from, it boosts the illicit market, she explained.
Max Jackson of Cannabis Wise Guys spoke about how to avoid market capture and over-consolidation, arguing that the state should not give existing medical cannabis businesses an unfair head start in selling to recreational consumers.
“A license to operate in a limited medical market is not a golden ticket to the adult-use market. Gifting incumbents an automatic advantage is a policy choice, not a legal obligation,” his presentation to the panel said. “Virginia retains the full authority to design a new market that serves the commonwealth, not just the handful of existing license holders.”
Limited-license markets that authorize only a small number of businesses to sell legal marijuana “fail to compete with the illicit market on price or access, which undermines public safety and guarantees the failure of social equity programs,” Jackson said. “The choice of market architecture determines more than tax revenue; it defines public safety and social outcomes.”
“By prioritizing diverse local operators, Virginia can build a market that provides safe, tested products, fulfills the promise of social equity, and successfully displaces the illicit market—achieving all the core goals of legalization,” he said.
Damian Fagon, a former New York cannabis regulator who is now a fellow at the Parabola Center for Law and Policy, similarly told the panel that “with smart design, profits stay with local farmers and small businesses” but that “without safeguards, the market will be captured by a handful of multi-state corporate operators, leaving farmers and small entrepreneurs shut out.”
He specifically argued that lawmakers should create a two-tier cannabis market with ownership limits on licenses.
“Virginia’s cannabis market will top $2 billion annually,” Fagon’s presentation said. “The question isn’t if it will grow, but who benefits?”
Virginia Commonwealth University’s Michelle Peace provided lawmakers with data on cannabis products that are being sold in the unregulated market that has proliferated while the state continues to prohibit recreational marijuana sales. She recommended that officials improve education resources for consumers, enhance enforcement efforts against illegal sales, expand testing capabilities and amend the definition of THC under state law.
After hearing all of the testimony from invited witnesses as well as others who spoke during a public comment portion of the meeting, Krizek, the chairman of the commission, said that members are “going to be taking notes, and we’re going to be getting together and working on this.”
“We’re going to need you in January to come down to the General Assembly when we try to pass this bill,” he said.
As lawmakers gear up to push for legalization in next year’s session, they will be doing so under a new governor, as Youngkin is term limited and cannot run again.
With the election in November and early voting currently underway, Virginia voters have the chance to decide on whether their next governor will be someone who supports or opposes legalizing recreational marijuana sales in the commonwealth—with the two major party nominees holding diametrically opposed views on the future of cannabis policy.
The GOP nominee, Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears (R), has staunchly opposed allowing Virginia to create a commercial adult-use cannabis market, going so far as to say that marijuana is a gateway drug and suggesting that legalization is “decimating communities.”
Former U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) is on the other side of the spectrum, expressing her interest, if elected, in working with the legislature to develop a system of regulated sales consistent with what the majority of voters support.
“As Virginia takes steps toward creating a legalized retail market for cannabis,” the congresswoman told Marijuana Moment last month that she believes “the Commonwealth needs a clear strategy to set up a market that is safe for consumers, transparent for businesses, and fair to entrepreneurs.”
She added that it’s her stance that “revenue from commercial cannabis products must return to Virginia communities and be reinvested for purposes like strengthening our public schools.”
If elected, Spanberger said she will “work with leaders in the General Assembly to find a path forward that both prioritizes public safety and grows Virginia’s economy.”
Meanwhile, a top Democratic Virginia senator recently said the state should move forward with legalizing recreational marijuana sales—in part to offset the Trump administration’s cuts to federal spending in support of states.
While the legislature has twice passed bills to create a regulated commercial cannabis market after the state legalized possession and use by adults in 2022, Youngkin vetoed both proposals.
But with anticipated increases in spending in Virginia resulting from various federal policy initiatives such as the withdrawal of federal welfare dollars to states, Senate President Pro Tem Louise Lucas (D) said it’s time to get serious about alternative revenue, which should include legalizing marijuana sales.
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