Virginia lawmakers in both the Senate and House of Delegates have advanced a bill to legalize and regulate recreational marijuana sales—one of several cannabis reform proposals under consideration as the 2026 session gets underway.

On Friday, the Senate Rehabilitation & Social Services Committee approved an adult-use marijuana market proposal from Sen. Lashrecse Aird (D) on a 8-7 vote, and a House General Laws subcommittee advanced a companion bill from Del. Paul Krizek (D) in a 7-0 vote.

The bills largely align with recommendations released last month by the legislature’s Joint Commission to Oversee the Transition of the Commonwealth into a Cannabis Retail Market.

Since legalizing cannabis possession and home cultivation in 2021, Virginia lawmakers have worked to establish a commercial marijuana market—only to have those efforts consistently stalled under former Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R), who twice vetoed measures to enact it that were sent to his desk by the legislature.

“In 2021 Virginia became the first southern state to legalize adult use cannabis, and five years later, Virginia has yet to implement the marketplace we originally envisioned,” Aird said on Friday. “Each year that we go without a marketplace, the illicit market grows and health and safety concerns rise for our citizens.”

“The legislation establishes a market, once and for all, that will protect consumers, protect health and safety while ensuring balance by creating a market that takes into account the harms created by the disproportionate enforcement of cannabis laws felt by Black and brown communities,” she said.

Krizek, who chaired the joint commission that produced the regulatory recommendations, said at Friday’s House hearing that the bill “has had a tremendous amount of input and intent and with intention, and we hope we can process it through the finish line.”

He said members are “pretty much 99.5 percent, if you will, on the same page” with the legislation, and the reform is “long overdue.”

Under the House measure as approved in the subcommittee, adult-use cannabis sales could begin on November 1. That’s shorter timeline compared to the Senate companion, which calls for sales to start on January 1, 2027.

“We are being ambitious, and we’ll see how that plays out in conference,” Krizek said.

The Senate panel also considered a separate cannabis sales measure sponsored by Sen. Aaron Rouse (D), and incorporated it into Aird’s bill, which will be the main vehicle for the reform this session.

The Senate legislation, which next heads to the Courts of Justice Committee, will help to “ensure our communities are safe,” Rouse said on Friday.

“In recent years we’ve seen an unchecked proliferation of illegal and unregulated marijuana stores,” he said. “This has put Virginias at risk as unlicensed drug dealers sells billions of dollars of untested and untaxed products, frequently to children. A well-regulated marijuana retail market is a necessity for public safety and would ensure that products are tested for safety, that they are accurately labeled, sold in a controlled environment and kept away from kids.”

Here are the key details of the Virginia marijuana sales legalization legislation:

• Retail sales could begin on November 1, 2026 under the House version and January 1, 2027 under the Senate bill.
• 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.
• 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.
• A tax of up to 12.625 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 3.5 percent.
• Tax revenue would be split between the costs of administering and enforcing the state’s marijuana system, a new Cannabis Equity Reinvestment Fund, pre-kindergarten programs, substance use disorder prevention and treatment programs and public health programs such as awareness campaigns designed to prevent drug-impaired driving and discourage underage consumption.
• Local governments could not opt out of allowing marijuana businesses to operate in their area.
• Delivery services would be allowed.
• Serving sizes would be capped at 10 milligrams THC, with no more than 100 mg THC per package.
• Existing medical cannabis operators could enter the adult-use market if they pay a $10 million licensing conversion fee.
• Cannabis businesses would have to establish labor peace agreements with workers.
• A legislative commission would be directed to study adding on-site consumption licenses and microbusiness cannabis event permits that would allow licensees to conduct sales at venues like farmers markets or pop-up locations. It would also investigate the possibility of the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority becoming involved in marijuana regulations and enforcement.

Del. Will Morefield (R) said at the hearing that “it’s easy for people in my party, the Republican Party, to say no, but we were not sent to Richmond, in my opinion, just to say no. We were sent to Richmond to solve problems.”

“In my opinion, to just say no is irresponsible,” he said. “Yes, it’s possible that one day possession could be repealed. Personally, I don’t think politically it’s going to happen anywhere in the near future–and so that’s why it’s incumbent upon us to solve problems, and by establishing a regulatory framework, that’s how we solve a major problem.”

The House bill has been referred to the Appropriations Committee.

Newly sworn-in Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D) supports legalizing adult-use marijuana sales.

“Right now is that we live in this gray space where there’s some legality to marijuana, there’s some illegality,” she said ahead of taking office. “There’s a lot of questions—a lot of confusion—and that creates real problems for Virginians who might currently have the legal ability to buy it for medicinal needs, or for those who might try to fall under the personal use.”

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Meanwhile, Virginia lawmakers have filed other marijuana-related legislation for the 2026 session, including proposals to provide resentencing relief for people convicted of past cannabis crimes and to let terminally ill patients use medical marijuana in hospitals and other healthcare facilities.

Separately, the Virginia Department of Labor and Industry recently published a new outlining workplace protections for cannabis consumers.