Virginians’ dreams of having legal weed sales sooner rather than later aren’t entirely dead yet — but it’s complicated.

Since July 2021, it’s been legal to grow, consume, possess and gift cannabis in Virginia if you’re at least 21. But people can’t go into a dispensary and buy it for recreational use.

Gov. Abigail Spanberger vetoed a plan crafted by General Assembly Democrats to create a retail market for recreational cannabis in 2027, a move that likely pushes back the effort until next year.

But the bills’ sponsors, state Sen. Lashrecse Aird (D–Henrico) and Del. Paul Krizek (D–Fairfax), said that’s not the only path forward. Aird said they are talking about putting language into the state’s two-year spending plan that could make retail weed sales a reality despite Spanberger’s veto.

“It would be really irresponsible if we didn’t take this one final opportunity to try and get the legislation moved forward,” Aird told reporters on Tuesday while standing alongside Krizek.

Krizek, one of the state budget negotiators, said the lawmakers selected to build a compromise spending plan haven’t met to discuss the idea, but it’s “certainly a possibility.”

The state’s 2026–28 fiscal year budget hasn’t been approved as negotiators try to reach a deal, which stalled over a tax exemption for the data center industry. Spanberger called an April 23 special legislative session to finalize the budget, but an agreement wasn’t in place at the time so the session is still active.

Virginia’s House of Delegates and Senate are set to resume the special session on different days: The House will meet June 18 and the Senate will reconvene on June 22, according to messages sent to legislators.

Legislators need to pass the budget and present it to Spanberger, who can then sign it, veto the entire budget bill, veto certain line items, or recommend changes. If the governor vetoes the overall bill or any line item, it would go back to the Legislature to consider.

Aird and Krizek spoke about the possibility of adding the cannabis market bill into the budget after a meeting of the Joint Commission to Oversee the Transition of the Commonwealth into a Cannabis Retail Market — of which Aird serves as chair and Krizek serves as vice chair.

The lawmakers were clear that it’s still up in the air whether a provision setting up a legal retail cannabis market could make it into the FY 2026-28 budget, and that they want to work with Spanberger’s administration instead of ramming anything through the budget that the governor opposes.

Last week, Spanberger told the Richmond Times-Dispatch that trying to pass vetoed legislation through the budget would be an “abuse of the process.”

VPM News asked Spanberger’s press team whether she considered such a move as a nonstarter but did not get a response by deadline.

“Governor Spanberger has made clear that she supports setting up a legal retail marketplace for cannabis that prioritizes the health and safety of Virginians, protects communities and consumers, and operates with clear enforcement and regulatory authority,” a Spanberger spokesperson said in a statement sent to other outlets on Tuesday.

Aird and Krizek said that they are concerned about Virginia’s existing cannabis laws, which let people consume weed recreationally but offer no legal way of buying it.

“This bill, as opposed to any of the other veto bills, is really one that’s more urgent,” Krizek said. “It’s about public safety, so with any continued delay, it makes it more problematic. This is why we mustn’t stop negotiating.”

Both sides have raised concerns about the continued illegal sales of marijuana, saying that establishing a legal cannabis marketplace would help take people away from the illicit market. Officials have cracked down on businesses, particularly vape shops, that have been illegally selling cannabis and marijuana products.

Despite her veto, Spanberger says that she supports having a regulated retail weed market to take Virginia out of its marijuana purgatory and give people a safe legal option to buy regularly tested cannabis.

Krizek and Aird said Tuesday that they haven’t spoken to Spanberger about including the retail market framework into the budget, though they are reviewing the changes the governor proposed in a substitute bill.

The General Assembly passed Krizek and Aird’s cannabis market legislation on the last day of its regular session in March — a proposal that set a Jan. 1, 2027, launch date for legal recreational cannabis sales for people 21 and over.

It also proposed allowing up to 350 cannabis shops in Virginia and increasing the possession limit from 1 ounce to 2.5 ounces.

But Spanberger sent legislators a rewritten bill that proposed opening the cannabis marketplace on July 1, 2027. She also called for harsher criminal penalties, limiting the number of retail locations to 200 until at least 2029 and setting the possession limit to 2 ounces.

Aird said “there is a pathway to adopt a form of compromise” around some of Spanberger’s changes, including the governor’s recommendation to have penalties for underage cannabis use.

But Aird and Krizek drew red lines on many others.

One includes Spanberger’s proposal to make it a Class 2 felony — which comes with a sentence of 20 years to life imprisonment — to illegally transport at least 50 pounds of cannabis “or equivalent amount of marijuana products” into Virginia to sell or distribute.

A first-degree murder conviction is also considered a Class 2 felony in Virginia.

Krizek and Aird said that they anticipate changes to be made periodically after the legislation is ultimately signed.

“We’re going to have to keep tweaking the bill as we move forward,” Krizek said Tuesday. “It’s uncharted territory a little bit, so we want to get it right.”

The budget needs to be finalized before the start of the next fiscal year on July 1, or Virginia would experience its first state government shutdown. This deadline would give Spanberger only a few days to review the budget.

Senate President Pro Tempore L. Louise Lucas (D–Portsmouth), who chairs the Senate’s money committee, wrote on X that she met with her counterpart in the House, Del. Luke Torian (D–Prince William) to discuss the budget plan.

“The good news is that we’re getting close to an agreement on how to pay for core services,” Lucas wrote in another X post. “We will have a budget before June 30th and you can take that to the bank!”

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