By Tyler Arnold
(The Center Square) – Democrat-backed legislation that would have accelerated the timetable for when retailers could sell recreational marijuana in Virginia was shut down in the House of Delegates.
Senate Bill 391, sponsored by Sen. Adam Ebbin, D-Alexandria, would have allowed recreational sales of the plant as soon as September. A Republican-controlled subcommittee for the House Committee on General Laws chose not to take action on the legislation, instead recommending it be reconsidered in 2023.
Under current law, a person 21 years old or older can legally possess and use marijuana for recreational purposes within the commonwealth, but there are no legal means by which a person can buy the product. Adults of legal age can legally share up to 1 ounce of marijuana with other adults of legal age, but it cannot be exchanged for gifts and a person cannot make the exchange contingent on a separate monetary transaction.
Adults of legal age can also grow up to four plants per household.
“Let’s be clear: Virginia Democrats made a great big mess when they legalized marijuana without putting any regulatory or retail structure in place,” House Speaker Todd Gilbert, R-Shenandoah, said in a statement. “We are left having to clean up their mess and we will not make it worse by rushing to fix it.”
House Democratic leader Eileen Filler-Corn, D-Fairfax, said the postponement of a legal market will allow black markets to thrive.
“The General Assembly did years of heavy lifting on this significant legislative effort – all Governor Youngkin and House Republicans had to do was take a simple vote to finalize Virginia’s legal market,” Filler-Corn said in a statement. “Republican lack of action today allows the illicit market to thrive and decades of disproportionate enforcement of marijuana laws to go unaddressed.”
Legalized recreational sales are currently scheduled to begin in 2024. The time gap between the legalized possession of marijuana and the legalized sale of marijuana was originally meant to ensure people were not punished for using the product while the state was working on licensure for growth and sale of the product.
When lawmakers legalized the recreational use of marijuana, Republican lawmakers initially warned that legalized use without legalized sale would allow the black market to flourish.
