Governor Abigail Spanberger’s veto of legislation to create a licensed retail marijuana market in Virginia is drawing sharp criticism from cannabis advocates, who say the decision breaks a campaign promise and leaves the state stuck with another year of unregulated sales.
Spanberger rejected House Bill 642 and Senate Bill 542, which would have allowed licensed retailers to sell marijuana products to adults 21 and older. Virginia legalized adult possession and limited home cultivation in 2021, but retail sales remain limited to the state’s medical marijuana system.
Virginia NORML Executive Director JM Pedini said the veto undercuts voters who took Spanberger at her word.
“Her veto is a profound disappointment to the many Virginia voters who believed her when she said on the campaign trail that she supported establishing a legal adult use cannabis market,” Pedini said.
A statewide poll earlier this year found about 60 percent of Virginia voters support regulated retail marijuana sales. Virginia remains the only adult-use legal state without a regulated retail marketplace.
Governor cites lack of enforcement tools
In her official veto message, Spanberger said she agrees with lawmakers on the goal of a legal market but argued these bills would have launched a system without enough structure or resources.
“I share the General Assembly’s goal of establishing a safe, legal, and well-regulated cannabis retail marketplace in the Commonwealth,” Spanberger wrote. “Virginians deserve a system that replaces the illicit cannabis market with one that prioritizes our children’s health and safety, public safety, product integrity, and accountability.”
She said Virginia must build a framework that is ready to oversee the market from the first day of sales.
“As Virginia pursues a legal retail market, it is critical that we incorporate lessons learned by other states and ensure that our regulatory framework is fully prepared to provide strong oversight from day one,” Spanberger said. “That includes clear enforcement authority and sufficient resources for compliance, testing, and inspections, and robust tools to crack down on bad actors who continue to profit from the illicit market.”
Spanberger described HB 642 and SB 542 as creating “a retail marketplace for cannabis products without the timeline, structure, or resources to be successfully implemented.” She said she remains committed to working with legislators, stakeholders and law enforcement ahead of the next General Assembly session.
Advocates say framework already built
Pedini, who also serves as development director for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, said the veto dismisses years of work.
They called the decision “a slap in the face to the years of serious work undertaken by the legislature, policy experts like myself, advocates, public health stakeholders, and even our regulator who spent more than half a decade researching, debating and carefully plain together this exact legislation.”
Supporters say the bills would have moved marijuana sales into tested, labeled, age-restricted dispensaries and given the state better tools to shut down unlicensed smoke shops.
Instead, Pedini said, the veto keeps Virginia dependent on an underground market.
“Instead of finally taking marijuana out of smoke shops and putting it behind age-verified counters and licensed dispensaries, Virginia’s once again being forced to tolerate another year of dangerous, elicit market activity in every corner of the Commonwealth,” they said.
Pedini also said it is not clear whether any alternative path remains this year.
“It remains to be seen if there’s a path forward in the budget process, if not, Virginians will have to wait until 2027 where we’ll be debating these bills for a seventh time,” they said.
From Youngkin opposition to Spanberger veto
Former Governor Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, opposed launching an adult-use retail market throughout his term, and lawmakers never sent him a retail sales framework to sign. Spanberger, a Democrat, ran on support for a legal marketplace and said last year she would sign cannabis retail legislation.
This year’s veto is Spanberger’s first on the issue since taking office. It comes after she proposed a series of amendments that sponsors and advocates opposed, saying they would have rolled back parts of Virginia’s existing decriminalization and legalization laws. Lawmakers rejected those changes and returned the original bills to her desk.
For now, adults in Virginia can legally possess and grow limited amounts of marijuana, but still lack any in-state, non-medical retail option for buying it.
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