As they did last year, Virginia legislators again passed a bill to legalize retail cannabis sales this session. And as he did last year, Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) has again vetoed it.

Youngkin, who officially rejected the bill on Monday, agued in a veto statement that the legislation “endangers Virginians’ health and safety.”

“States following this path have seen adverse effects on children’s and adolescents’ health and safety, increased gang activity and violent crime, significant deterioration in mental health, decreased road safety, and significant costs associated with retail marijuana that far exceed tax revenue,” the governor claimed. “It also does not eliminate the illegal black-market sale of cannabis, nor guarantee product safety.”

Use, possession and limited cultivation of cannabis by adults are already legal in Virginia, the result of a Democrat-led proposal approved by lawmakers in 2021. But Republicans, after winning control of the House and governor’s office later that year, subsequently blocked the required reenactment of a regulatory framework for retail sales. Since then, illicit stores have sprung up to meet consumer demand, feeding an illegal market that some estimates value at nearly $3 billion.

“The current illegal cannabis market in Virginia is pervasive and dangerous,” the governor said in his veto message. “Attempting to rectify the error of decriminalizing marijuana by establishing a safe and regulated marketplace is an unachievable goal. The more prudent approach would be to revisit the issue of discrepancies in enforcement, not compounding the risks and endangering Virginians’ health and safety with greater market availability.”

Even before the start of the current legislative session, Youngkin’s office had signaled it had no interest in the reform.

Asked by Virginia Public Media (VPM) late last year about the likelihood of a veto, Christian Martinez, a spokesperson for the Youngkin, told the outlet: “I think you can cite the fact that time and time again he has been very clear on that.”

Assuming the veto stands, it means the state will miss out on tens of millions of dollars in annual state revenue for projects like pre-kindergarten programs, community reinvestment and substance use treatment, according to a report published earlier this month from the state Department of Planning and Budget.

Annual government revenue would have begun at an estimated $7.3 million in fiscal year 2026, the report said. The figure would then rise steadily as the regulated system got off the ground. By fiscal year 2031, the figure would climb to a projected $87.84 million annually.

The proposal’s House sponsor, Del. Paul Krizek (D), told Marijuana Moment he was disappointed but not surprised by Youngkin’s veto.

“I’m disappointed but we all saw it coming,” he wrote in an email. “I held out some hope he would sign the bill, but it is clear that the Governor doesn’t understand that a strong majority of Virginians want a well regulated, safe, adult use only market.”

“By vetoing this legislation,” Krizek continued, “Governor Youngkin has once again failed the citizens of Virginia by allowing an already thriving illegal cannabis underground market to persist—and the longer we ignore it the more difficult it will be to combat the proliferation of illicit products, which are an even greater risk to public safety.”

Advocates, meanwhile, said the veto puts politics over policy.

“Once again, Governor Youngkin has prioritized his personal politics over public safety, opting to keep control of Virginia’s marijuana market squarely in the hands of unregulated operators,” JM Pedini, development director for the advocacy group NORML and executive director for Virginia NORML, told Marijuana Moment in an email.

“This common-sense legislation would have taken marijuana out of corner stores and smoke shops and legalized access only for those age 21 and older in licensed dispensaries,” Pedini added.” Instead, these vetoes put at risk the health and safety of adult consumers and children alike, and provide protections to no one but the illicit market that has ballooned during his time in office.”

The two sponsors of the legal sales legislation, Krizek and Sen. Aaron Rouse (D), each introduced their own plans last year to legalize a commercial cannabis system in the state. Those plans ultimately merged into a compromise proposal that was passed by lawmakers but vetoed by Youngkin.

In a veto message at the time, the governor wrote that “the proposed legalization of retail marijuana in the Commonwealth endangers Virginians’ health and safety.”

This year’s legislation reintroduced the plan.

Here’s what Virginia’s marijuana sales legislation, SB 970 and HB 2485, would have done:

• Retail sales could begin as of May 1, 2026.
• Adults would be able to purchase up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana in a single transaction, or up to an equivalent amount of other cannabis products as determined by regulators.
• A tax of up to 11.625 percent would apply to the retail sale of any cannabis product. That would include a state retail and use tax of 1.125 percent on top of a new marijuana-specific tax of 8 percent. Local governments could levy an additional 2.5 percent.
• The Virginia Cannabis Control Authority would oversee licensing and regulation of the new industry. Its board of directors would have the authority to control possession, sale, transportation, distribution, delivery and testing of marijuana.
• Local governments could ban marijuana establishments, but only if voters approve an opt-out referendum.
• Locations of retail outlets could not be within 1,000 feet of another marijuana retailer.
• Cultivators would be regulated by space devoted to marijuana cultivation, known as canopy size. Both indoor and outdoor marijuana cultivation would be allowed, though only growers in lower tiers—with lower limits on canopy size—could grow plants outside. Larger growers would need to cultivate plants indoors. Secure greenhouses would qualify as indoor cultivation.
• Only direct, face-to-face transactions would be permitted. The legislation would prohibit the use of other avenues, such as vending machines, drive-through windows, internet-based sales platforms and delivery services.
• Existing medical marijuana providers that enter the adult-use market could apply to open up to five additional retail establishments, which would need to be colocated at their existing licensed facilities.
• Serving sizes would be capped at 10 milligrams THC, with no more than 100 mg THC per package.
• No person could be granted or hold an interest in more than five total licenses, not including transporter licenses.
• People with convictions for felonies or crimes involving moral turpitude within the past seven years would be ineligible to apply for licensing, as would employees of police or sheriff’s departments if they’re responsible for enforcement of the penal, traffic or motor vehicle laws of the commonwealth.
• An equity-focused microbusiness program would grant licenses to entities at least two-thirds owned and directly controlled by eligible applicants, which include people with past cannabis misdemeanors, family members of people with past convictions, military veterans, individuals who’ve lived at least three of the past five years in a “historically economically disadvantaged community,” people who’ve attended schools in those areas and individuals who received a federal Pell grant or attended a college or university where at least 30 percent of students are eligible for Pell grants.
• A “historically economically disadvantaged community” is defined as an area that has recorded marijuana possession offenses at or above 150 percent of the statewide average between 2009 and 2019.
• Tax revenue from the program would first cover the costs of administering and enforcing the state’s cannabis system. After that, 60 percent of remaining funds would go toward supporting the state’s Cannabis Equity Reinvestment Fund, 25 percent would fund substance use disorder treatment and prevention, 10 percent would go to pre-K programs for at-risk children and 5 percent would fund a public health and awareness campaign.
• Adults could also share up to 2.5 ounces with other adults without financial remuneration, though gray-market “gifting” of marijuana as part of another transaction would be punishable as a Class 2 misdemeanor and a Class 1 misdemeanor on second and subsequent offenses.
• A number of other new criminal penalties would be created. Knowingly selling or giving marijuana or marijuana paraphernalia to someone under 21, for example, would be a Class 1 misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in jail and a maximum $2,500 fine, as would knowingly selling cannabis to someone reasonably believed to be intoxicated. It would also be a Class 1 misdemeanor to advertise the sale of marijuana paraphernalia to people under 21.
• Knowingly obtaining marijuana on behalf of someone under 21 would be a Class 1 misdemeanor.
• People under 21 who possess or use marijuana, or attempt to obtain it, would be subject to a civil penalty of no more than $25 and ordered to enter a substance use disorder treatment and/or education program.
• Illegal cultivation or manufacture of marijuana, not including legal homegrow, would be a Class 6 felony, punishable by up to five years imprisonment and a $2,500 fine.
• People could process homegrown marijuana into products such as edibles, but butane extraction or the use of other volatile solvents would be punishable as a Class 1 misdemeanor.

The legal marijuana sales bills were a handful of cannabis-related proposals that lawmakers sent to Youngkin’s desk this year. By law, the governor has 30 days to act on a bill once it reaches his desk. He can either sign it into law, veto it or allow it to become law without his signature.

Lawmakers will reconvene on April 2 to consider overturning any vetoes.

Some other drug policy bills fell short this session before reaching Youngkin, including one that would have paved the way for psychedelic-assisted therapy for veterans. That measure, despite being passed unanimously by Virginia’s Senate, was shelved by a legislative committee last month.

Yet another bill will take effect without action from the governor: a House joint resolution to re-establish a commission of lawmakers who would study and oversee the state’s implementation of marijuana laws—what’s seen by some as an indication the legislature is intent on future action around cannabis.

With Youngkin unable to run for re-election later this year, his replacement is likely to decide whether regulated products will become available in the commonwealth in the next few years.

HJ 497 will create a joint commission of lawmakers—six from the House, four from the Senate—to study the state’s cannabis system, oversee the implementation of marijuana laws and make recommendations about future legislative changes. It reflects a hope that whoever replaces Youngkin will be more open to a commercial cannabis market.

A similar commission previously existed in the commonwealth, but the law creating that body sunsetted last year, and the group disbanded.

Chelsea Higgs Wise, co-founder and executive director of the group Marijuana Justice, said the resolution’s adoption gives advocates better access to lawmakers “leading up to the next general session to prepare for the adult-use regulation bill.”

“Reestablishing the cannabis oversight commission is critical to review the concerns of all stakeholders,” she said in a statement to Marijuana Moment after the bill’s passage in the legislature. “The commission will offer public testimony and documented discussion on the crafting of the 2026 proposal.”

“After pushing legislation back for years,” she added, “we can deliver Virginia a regulated market with testing, guardrails and opportunity that we deserve.”

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