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Virginia officials in the administration of Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D) and lawmakers who sponsored a bill to legalize recreational marijuana sales that the governor vetoed last month have met recently to discuss the possibility of enacting the reform through budget legislation that is due to be passed soon.
The sides are getting closer to reaching a deal, several sources said.
“The negotiation with the governor has been very fruitful and it is clear that we have made a great deal of progress,” Del. Paul Krizek (D), who sponsored the House of Delegates version of the cannabis sales legislation, told Marijuana Moment on Friday.
A spokesperson for Spanberger said the governor “has made clear that she continues to support 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.”
The governor and the sponsors of the legalization legislation “share these same goals, and she looks forward to moving this across the finish line together,” the spokesperson told Marijuana Moment.
Lawmakers passed the cannabis sales bills in March, but the governor then suggested changes to the legalization proposal—including delaying the start date for sales by six months, increasing taxes and instituting new criminal penalties for cannabis consumers. The legislature in April declined to take up the amendments during a one-day reconvened session, however, effectively rejecting them. Spanberger then issued a veto.
Spanberger herself has sat down in recent days with Krizek and Sen. Lashrecse Aird (D), who sponsored the Senate version of the legislation, two sources familiar with the negotiations told Marijuana Moment. Krizek also met on Thursday with an administration official to discuss the issue, the sources, who asked not to be named, said.
Full details of a potential compromise on the issue between lawmakers and the governor are not yet clear, but sources indicated that the timeline for launching the cannabis market would have to be moved back at least somewhat from the date included in the now-vetoed bill. They also suggested that it is unlikely any new penalties would be as harsh as those previously proposed by the governor.
Aird did not immediately respond to Marijuana Moment’s request for comment for this story.
Other areas of disagreement between the cannabis legislation as passed by lawmakers and the governor’s proposed amendments that will need to be negotiated before a final deal is reached include tax rates, the number of dispensaries that will be allowed to operate and legal possession limits for consumers.
Following Spanberger’s veto, top lawmakers have been openly discussing the possibility of including provisions to legalize adult-use cannabis sales in still-outstanding budget legislation that they are due to pass by July 1.
The effort to keep the issue alive was a topic of discussion earlier this week at the first meeting of the legislature’s Joint Commission to Oversee the Transition of the Commonwealth into a Cannabis Retail Market since the governor’s move to kill the previous proposal to regulate adult-use marijuana sales.
The governor, meanwhile, is continuing to try to publicly explain her veto—including by saying it is her view that “taking a little bit longer” to launch the market is not something she sees as “negative” because it is more important to get the details right than to do it fast.
A recent survey found that bipartisan majorities of Virginia voters wanted Spanberger to sign the cannabis legislation into law, and that they specifically disagreed with her desire to slow the launch timeline for legal sales.
The governor recently acknowledged in a separate interview that “a lot of people are not pleased” with her veto of the cannabis legislation. “Friends and family are displeased as well,” she said.
Spanberger has repeatedly responded to criticism of her cannabis amendments from the bill sponsors and advocates by saying the suggested changes came after she spoke to the leaders of other states that have already implemented adult-use marijuana markets.
A spokesperson for Spanberger declined to name any other governors she talked to about cannabis in response to a question from Marijuana Moment, however.
The governor separately recently sought to explain her veto in an earlier interview, reiterating that she supports launching a legal cannabis market but worried about what she called a “rushed timeline” and “far more stores across Virginia” than she thinks are appropriate.
Prior to vetoing the cannabis commerce bill, the governor did sign separate legislation to provide resentencing relief for people with past cannabis convictions.
Personal marijuana possession and home cultivation of marijuana has been legal in Virginia since 2021, but then-Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) twice vetoed bills to provide consumers with a way to legally purchase regulated adult-use cannabis.
Aird and Krizek, the sponsors of the legalization bills, had urged colleagues to vote against the governor’s amendments—even if that meant risking a veto from Spanberger when the legislation returned to her desk, which has now occurred.
Here are the other key details of the cannabis bills—SB 542 and HB 642—as approved by lawmakers and with the governor’s suggested amendments:
A coalition of cannabis reform organizations sent the governor a letter urging her not to veto the sales legalization legislation even though her amendments were rejected.
“Together, these bills address the real issues surrounding cannabis in the Commonwealth today: an already-existing, unregulated marijuana market operating openly across the state while consumers, communities, and law enforcement are left without the protections of a legal framework,” the groups wrote.
“Let’s be clear: these bills do not create a marijuana market in Virginia. That market already exists,” the letter said. “What these bills do is replace today’s predatory and unaccountable illicit operators with a regulated marketplace, enforceable rules, oversight, product safeguards, age verification, and the strict consumer safety standards already in use for Virginia medical cannabis.”
The letter was signed by Virginia NORML, Marijuana Justice, Virginia Cannabis Association, Marijuana Policy Project and other groups.
Separately, a coalition of hemp businesses that joined with a major alcohol retailer in asking Spanberger to veto the marijuana bill before she did so said the move presents an “opportunity” to craft better cannabis policy.
Meanwhile, the governor signed several other reform bills this session—including measures to protect the parental rights of marijuana consumers and allow patients to access medical cannabis in hospitals.
Tom Angell is the editor of Marijuana Moment. A 25-year veteran in the cannabis and drug law reform movement, he covers the policy, politics, science and culture of marijuana, psychedelics and other substances. He previously reported for Forbes, Marijuana.com and MassRoots, and was given the Hunter S. Thompson Media Award by NORML and has been named Journalist of the Year by Americans for Safe Access. As an activist, Tom founded the nonprofit Marijuana Majority and handled media relations, campaigns and lobbying for Law Enforcement Against Prohibition and Students for Sensible Drug Policy.
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