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Democratic bill sponsors say they’re vexed at changes
Beth JoJack //April 14, 2026//
Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger delivers the Democratic response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address, in Williamsburg, Virginia, U.S., February 24, 2026. Mike Kropf/Pool via REUTERS
Spanberger’s marijuana amendments include delay in sales to July 2027
Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger delivers the Democratic response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address, in Williamsburg, Virginia, U.S., February 24, 2026. Mike Kropf/Pool via REUTERS
Democratic bill sponsors say they’re vexed at changes
Beth JoJack //April 14, 2026//
SUMMARY:
Gov. Abigail Spanberger has proposed a six-month pause in legalizing recreational marijuana sales, moving the launch from Jan. 1, 2027, to July 1, 2027.
That’s among several amendments to state legislation that establishes a retail market for marijuana, which was passed by the Virginia General Assembly. House and state Senate lawmakers are set to consider the governor’s proposed changes to 180 bills at a reconvened session in Richmond on April 22.
The goal behind the delay in starting marijuana sales, according to a Tuesday news release from the governor’s office, is to “allow for additional time to implement a legal market safely and curb the illicit market.”
Another change proposed by Spanberger is a raise in the state cannabis tax from 6% to 8% starting July 1, 2029. Local taxes would remain at 1% to 3.5%.
Additionally, Spanberger’s changes would only allow 200 licenses for retail marijuana stores to be issued by Jan. 1, 2029, instead of the 350 in the bill. There would also be changes to allocations of state tax revenue, as well as the addition of stricter penalties for illegal consumption, possession, cultivation and processing.
Currently, adults in Virginia over age 21 can possess up to 1 ounce of marijuana. Lawmakers approved a bill that would have upped that to 2.5 ounces, but Spanberger dialed it back down to 2 ounces in her amendments. Among the criminal penalties is the addition of a new offense for transporting marijuana punishable as a Class 2 felony, with 20 years to life imprisonment.
The General Assembly’s bill also would have directed 30% of state tax revenue to the Cannabis Equity Reinvestment Fund, 40% to support early childhood care and education, 25% to the Department of Behavioral Health and Development Services for substance use prevention and treatment programs, and 5% to public health programs.
However, a Spanberger amendment proposes that “net profits shall be appropriated in the general appropriation act … for purposes such as early childhood education, behavioral health, public health awareness, prevention, treatment, and recovery services, workforce development, reentry, indigent criminal defense and targeted reinvestment in historically disadvantaged communities.”
Legislators object to changes
Del. Paul Krizek and state Sen. Lashrecse Aird, chief sponsors of the twin bills, issued a response Tuesday to the governor’s amendments voicing their displeasure.
“The proposal creates a less accessible legal marketplace,” Krizek said in a statement. “These changes reduce the number of available licenses, delay the launch of retail sales and impose high barriers to entry, resulting in revenue losses, delayed economic opportunity for market participants and the elimination of investment to small businesses. These barriers do not eliminate demand, it simply redirects it back to the illicit market.”
Aird said that the governor’s proposed amendments “represents a significant departure from the framework passed by the General Assembly,” and that the substitute language not only makes the legal market “harder to access” but “allows the illicit market to continue to thrive in every corner store in our commonwealth.”
Aird added that Spanberger’s changes introduce “harsh escalating criminal penalties that risk repeating the very harm legislation was meant to correct, particularly in communities that have historically been harmed by prohibition, while simultaneously encouraging intoxicating hemp products to continue to be sold without any safeguards.”
Cannabis business owners and other supporters have long awaited the legalization of recreational sales, coming years after medical marijuana was made legal in 2021, along with the 2020 decriminalization of possessing small quantities of weed. Former Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin vetoed previous legislation that would have established the retail market, while Spanberger, a Democrat, said she would sign such legislation during her 2025 gubernatorial campaign.
“Five years ago, the commonwealth took the first steps to legalize marijuana — and for five years, the work sat unfinished,” Spanberger said in Tuesday’s news release. “We are working to set up a marketplace that is controlled, regulated and responsible — because legal markets only succeed when there are clear guardrails and enforcement to back it up.”
Stakeholder views
Several stakeholders say they understand the reasoning behind the proposed six-month delay.
Eric Postow, Fairfax-based managing partner for Holon Law Partners and a specialist in marijuana law, thinks delaying the launch will give more businesses a chance to compete successfully with companies that already dispense and process medical marijuana that may apply to become dual-use facilities. If retail sales started in early 2027, only medical processors may have product ready to sell, since they are connected to multistate operations, he and others say.
“What it really does is kind of level the playing field,” Postow said. “It takes time to grow the crops and to get them into retail form … And what you really want is for retail to open when the true license market is able to participate fully. … So, I think that pushing it out actually makes sense from a competitive market perspective.”
Regardless, “Virginia is going to be one of the most competitive licensed marketplaces anywhere in the country,” Postow said.
Tanner Johnson, CEO of Pure Shenandoah, a family-run CBD and hemp products business based in Elkton, and Pure Virginia, the company’s marijuana entity, said in a statement that the governor’s amendments present “a complex set of trade-offs for the industry.”
“On one hand, the delayed implementation timeline proposed in the governor’s amendments could provide small and local businesses more lead time to scale their operations and prepare for a competitive marketplace,” he said. “Conversely, this delay means consumers must wait significantly longer for access to a regulated market.”
Chelsea Higgs Wise, the Richmond-based executive director of nonprofit Marijuana Justice, had lobbied for a later start date. She was glad to see the July 2027 launch date among Spanberger’s proposed changes, but she’s unhappy with the amendments overall, particularly removing specific allocations to the Cannabis Equity Reinvestment Fund created by the legislature in 2021.
That fund, Wise said, could provide low-interest loans to marijuana microbusinesses, which would be smaller-scale operations licensed to provide marijuana processing, cultivation or sales. To qualify as a microbusiness, applicants need to be farmers, industrial hemp processors or growers, or qualify for social equity reasons, such as at least 66% ownership by a person who has been convicted of a misdemeanor violation related to marijuana.
Spanberger’s proposed amendments, Wise said, are “basically bankrupting the reinvestment fund before we even get started.”
Obtaining a traditional bank loan for a marijuana business is unlikely because marijuana is illegal at the federal level, Wise noted. “Now this is an even more restrictive capital industry that we’ve created by cutting off that resource.”
Postow added that this change limits the market to those who can find private financing or have deep pockets.
“I think the pool is being slimmed down,” he said. “That’s a really critical change.”
However, Postow thinks this is a good move on Spanberger’s part.
“What’s the most important is a tightly controlled, compliance-focused marketplace,” Postow said. “That allows for the businesses that have the best chance of staying in business and professionalism across the board. I think that that’s in our interest as Virginians.”
Editor’s note: This story has been updated.
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