Since Virginia legalized marijuana in 2021, laws surrounding the drug have been hazy. Though adults 21 and over can legally possess up to one ounce of marijuana and grow up to four plants at home, it will not be legal to sell weed until January 1, 2024. State Democrats unsuccessfully tried to speed up that timeline last year—but now, legislators on both sides of the aisle are pushing to start recreational sales ahead of schedule.
In the House, Republican Del. Keith Hodges has proposed a bill that would allow pharmaceutical and industrial hemp processors to begin selling recreational weed on July 1, but prohibit the state from issuing marijuana licenses to other retailers until July 1, 2024. Democratic state Sen. Adam Ebbin has proposed a bill with the same timeline. While the proposals have drawn support from marijuana advocates pushing for recreational sales to begin before next year, some advocacy groups have criticized them for giving corporations an advantage, and removing social equity provisions included in the monumental 2021 legislation.
Under current law, the Virginia Cannabis Control Authority Board of Directors is required to establish standards and requirements for license applicants who have been convicted of a misdemeanor marijuana crime—or whose parent, child, sibling, or spouse has been convicted of one—as well as applicants who have lived in an area disproportionately policed for marijuana crimes (or an economically distressed area) for at least three of the past five years. People who graduated from a historically Black college or university in the state also qualify for a social equity license.
Hodges’ bill, HB1464, would instead mandate standards and requirements for “any preference in the licensing process for applicants that intend to operate a marijuana establishment in an historically economically disadvantaged community.” Ebbin’s bill, SB1133, would mandate “criteria by which to evaluate and grant license preference to applicants who have resided for at least four of the last five years … [in] a historically economically disadvantaged community.”
By allowing pharmaceutical and industrial hemp processors to sell recreational weed before small businesses, and giving preference to applicants opening dispensaries in economically disadvantaged communities, these bills invite corporations and other outside actors to exploit these areas, and do not guarantee people harmed by the decades-long war on drugs will be prioritized in the licensing process, says Chelsea Higgs Wise, executive director of Marijuana Justice.
“It’s a removal of the focus of the disparate impact of prohibition … and from individuals and families that have been targeted,” says Higgs Wise. “[This] appears to be the compromise across chambers to really encourage the false narrative of urgency to sales.”
The bills introduced by Hodges and Ebbin remove the word “equity” from multiple positions and organizations overseeing the legal marijuana market, and detail provisions for historically economically disadvantaged communities, rather than those specifically impacted by marijuana prohibition. Additionally, HB1464 no longer requires the Cannabis Control Authority to appropriate marijuana tax revenue to pre-kindergarten programs for at-risk children, the Cannabis Equity Reinvestment Fund, substance use disorder prevention and treatment programs, and public health programs. Republican Del. Michael Webert has proposed a bill, HB1750, that would delay retail sales to January 1, 2025, and remove social equity license requirements, too.
Higgs Wise worries about the long-term repercussions of marijuana laws without strong social equity provisions—as more states move toward legalizing marijuana, they could follow the commonwealth’s lead.
“Virginia has got to look across borders … and not only talk to people with the most money and the biggest mouths, which are the pharmaceutical companies,” says Higgs Wise, pointing to social equity issues within other states’ cannabis markets, like California and Illinois.
However, Virginia NORML is in support of the early sales bills, stressing the need for a safe, legal market as soon as possible.
“These bills seek to address some of the most immediate policies for adult use retail sales,” says the organization’s Executive Director JM Pedini. “The priority for the General Assembly this session ought to be public and consumer safety when it comes to retail sales—not who gets to make money first or next off of those consumers.”
The ever-changing proposals surrounding retail sales are confusing people interested in opening dispensaries, says Higgs Wise. Sirak Getachew, who plans to open a CBD dispensary in Richmond this spring, hopes to eventually sell legal weed at his business, but is worried about the social equity requirements.
“It just seems like we are on the sideline with nothing,” he says. “It seems like the war [on drugs] is never over.”
David Treccariche, owner of Charlottesville CBD dispensary Skooma, echoes similar concerns regarding early sales and licensing.
“Out-of-state money has influenced our locally elected officials against the betterment of their constituents,” says Treccariche. “The greatest injustice is to the victims of the state. … Those individuals should be given cannabis licenses and grants as easily as they were given summons and tickets.”
It remains to be seen which of the proposed bills—if any—have a fair chance of passing this legislative session. Gov. Glenn Youngkin has yet to clarify his position on a legalization timeline, which is “creating a hurdle, specifically for House Republicans, on the issue,” says Pedini.