Virginia senators have approved a pair of bills to legalize recreational marijuana sales and provide sentencing relief for people with prior cannabis convictions.
The Senate Courts of Justice Committee on Wednesday voted to advance the marijuana sales legislation from Sen. Lashrecse Aird (D) in a 9-6 vote. Members also voted 12-TK3to approve the cannabis resentencing measure from Senate President Pro Tem Louise Lucas (D).
Both measures next head to the Senate Finance & Appropriations Committee before potentially reaching the floor.
Aird told colleagues at Wednesday’s hearing that her bill “establishes a market that, once and for all, will protect consumers and prioritize health and safety, while ensuring balance to our regulatory structure that ensures legalization is aligned with public health and safety goals and avoids past mistakes embedded in alcohol laws that allow the legal substance to remain a pipeline to criminalization.”
“I know there is an interest in strictly aligning the approach that we take in this legislation to [the Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority’s] enforcement structure, but in doing that too closely we do risk building a legal system that still relies on arrests, mandatory fines, mandatory minimums, jail time and felonies for low level conduct,” she said. “And that approach has failed for alcohol and will fail again for cannabis.”
The panel adopted several amendments from Sen. Scott Surovell (D), the chair of the panel—over Aird’s objection.
Among the changes are amendments to “basically align the penalties for the illegal sale of alcohol with the illegal sale of marijuana,” Surovell said, in addition to one to equate penalties for underage possession of cannabis with those for alcohol.
Another approved amendment from the chair adds criminal penalties for buying marijuana from an unlicensed seller.
Chelsea Higgs Wise of Marijuana Justice testified in support of the overall bill but expressed concerns about the newly adopted criminal amendments, calling them “a step back.”
A representative of the Virginia State Conference of the NAACP similarly said that “if we really want to set our children up for success, we would not be criminalizing them, and rather what we’ll do is figure out how do we support them so that they will make better choices.”
JM Pedini, development director for the advocacy group NORML and executive director for Virginia NORML, told Marijuana Moment that the organization is “deeply concerned by committee members’ efforts to recriminalize cannabis consumers and adopt marijuana mandatory minimums.”
“It’s particularly unsettling that as this body is moving to address resentencing for marijuana-related convictions, it is simultaneously entertaining new ways to further criminalize consumers,” Pedini said.
The passage of the commercial sales bill as amended comes about a week after the House General Laws Committee approved a companion version of the legislation, sponsored by Del. Paul Krizek (D).
As approved in committee, the legislation largely aligns with recommendations released in December 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.
The Senate version calls for sales to start on January 1, 2027, while the House bill stipulates that adult-use cannabis sales could begin on November 1 of this year.
Here are the key details of the Virginia marijuana sales legalization legislation:
- 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.
Newly sworn-in Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D) supports legalizing adult-use marijuana sales.
The other cannabis bill approved by the Senate committee on Wednesday would mandate that individuals with certain offenses automatically receive resentencing hearings and have their punishments adjusted. A House companion version from Del. Rozia Henson, Jr. (D) also advanced recently.
The legislation would create a process by which people who are incarcerated or on community supervision for certain felony offenses involving the possession, manufacture, selling or distribution of marijuana could receive an automatic hearing to consider modification of their sentences.
The bill applies to people whose convictions or adjudications are for conduct that occurred prior to July 1, 2021, when a state law legalizing personal possession and home cultivation of marijuana went into effect.
The panel adopted a series of technical changes to the legislation prior to approving it.
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Meanwhile, Virginia lawmakers have filed other marijuana-related legislation for the 2026 session, including a proposals to let terminally ill patients use medical marijuana in hospitals.
Separately, the Virginia Department of Labor and Industry recently published a new outlining workplace protections for cannabis consumers.
Photo courtesy of Mike Latimer.
