RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia lawmakers have passed legislation that, if approved by Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, would allow recreational retail sales of marijuana to begin next year.
Under the bills, the state would start taking applications on Sept. 1 for cultivating, testing, processing and selling the drug in preparation for the market to open May 1, 2025, with products taxed at a rate of up to 11.625%.
The legislation would create the state’s first retail market in a “responsible and thoughtful way,” said Delegate Paul Krizek, the Fairfax County Democrat who carried the House version.
“And we’ve done so because it’s time to give Virginia’s $3 billion illicit market a run for its money. And it’s time to give Virginians access to a safe, tested and taxed product,” Mr. Krizek said on the House floor.
In 2021, Virginia became the first Southern state to legalize marijuana, adopting a policy change that allowed adults age 21 and up to possess and cultivate the drug.
But because of political gridlock and policy differences since then, the state still hasn’t set up retail sales, which critics say is allowing illicit sales to continue to flourish.
Currently, home cultivation and adult sharing of the drug are legal. And patients who receive a written certification from a health care provider can purchase medical cannabis from a dispensary.
It’s not entirely clear how Mr. Youngkin will act on the legislation, which passed the House of Delegates and the Senate on Wednesday after a few last-minute changes.
The governor hasn’t explicitly threatened to veto a retail sales bill. But for years he has been vague on the issue, saying his focus was elsewhere or — as he did at the start of this session — that he just isn’t interested.
“I’ve said before, this is an area that I really don’t have any interest in. What I want us to work on are areas where we can find a meeting of the mind and press forward to the betterment of Virginia, and there are so many of them,” Mr. Youngkin told reporters in January.
His press office declined further comment Wednesday.
“This bill regulates an existing market,” said Greg Habeeb, a former Republican legislator now lobbying for the Virginia Cannabis Association, adding that he thinks the governor will give the bill “a very serious look.”
Competing bills setting up a retail market were introduced at the start of the legislative session. The versions that passed Wednesday were identical and the result of compromise, Mr. Krizek and Senate lawmakers said.
Under the legislation, no group would get a head-start on kicking off retail sales, Mr. Krizek said.
Products would be taxed at a maximum rate of 11.625%, with 8% going to the state, 2.5% a local option tax and 1.125% to K-12 education, Mr. Habeeb said.
The 81-page bills allow for localities to hold a referendum on whether to prohibit retail marijuana stories. They also increase the amount of marijuana a person over 21 may possess from 1 ounce to 2.5 ounces.
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