Virginia seems set to stay the one state within the nation with leisure marijuana legalization however with out authorized gross sales.
That established order would proceed if, as extensively anticipated, Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin once more vetoes adult-use gross sales legalization payments that state lawmakers lately despatched to him.
For the second straight 12 months, Virginia’s Democratic-controlled Common Meeting handed laws that might lastly arrange adult-use gross sales within the state.
Youngkin’s Democratic predecessor, Ralph Northam, signed legalization into legislation in 2021, however that invoice had a clause that required additional motion to create a market projected to be price lots of of tens of millions.
The latest laws would give unique adult-use gross sales rights to the state’s current medical marijuana companies, which embody main multistate operators comparable to:
- Ayr Wellness.
- The Cannabist Co.
- Inexperienced Thumb Industries.
- Jushi Holdings.
- Verano Holdings Corp.
Nonetheless, Youngkin vetoed an analogous invoice final 12 months, citing well being and security considerations.
The governor’s press secretary advised reporters earlier than this legislative session that Youngkin’s views on leisure hashish gross sales haven’t modified, based on The Washington Instances.
Within the meantime, Virginia’s medical marijuana sufferers are patronizing a large illicit market, a 2023 research discovered.
Virginia awards MMJ dispensary licenses by area, with every firm assigned unique rights to a specific space, based on the state’s Hashish Management Authority.
Miami-based Ayr Wellness, in the meantime, has but to start operations in Virginia.
The method that led to Ayr being awarded the state’s fifth MMJ license is being challenged by seven companies that filed swimsuit in November, The Richmonder reported.
