A Virginia legislature marijuana oversight panel on Thursday voted in favor of a recommendation to allow adult-use cannabis sales to launch in January 2023\u2014one year earlier than what\u2019s prescribed under the legalization law that passed this year.<\/p>\n
The legislature\u2019s Joint Commission on Cannabis Oversight voted 7-1, with one abstention, to expedite retail sales and have the new Cannabis Control Authority (CCA) regulate the program. Those initial sales would be facilitated through existing medical marijuana dispensaries as rules are implemented to license additional recreational retailers.<\/p>\n
It remains to be seen whether the full House of Delegates and Senate will ultimately adopt the recommendation when members reconvene next month under incoming Republican leadership in one chamber and the governor\u2019s office.<\/p>\n
As it stands under the law as enacted, sales are currently set to begin in 2024. But because of a reenactment clause that was tacked on, legislators are required to hold another vote on the legalization proposal during next year\u2019s session to allow commercial sales. Low-level possession and home cultivation already became legal this year, and those provisions are not subject to reenactment.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re pleased an agreement was reached on a policy recommendation to expedite adult-use sales,\u201d JM Pedini, executive director of Virginia NORML, told Marijuana Moment. \u201cVirginians 21 and older ought to have access at the already-operational dispensaries sooner rather than later, and they have been very clear in their demands to move earlier the date of sales.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cStill, this legislation will face an uphill battle in the now divided General Assembly,\u201d Pedini, who also serves as NORML\u2019s national development director, added.<\/p>\n
Members of the joint commission<\/a> on Thursday rejected a separate proposal to push up the retail sales timeline to July 2022. They also considered several other items, including the involvement of current hemp businesses in adult-use marijuana cultivation.<\/p>\n The Joint Commission on Cannabis Oversight is meeting now. Click here to watch: https:\/\/t.co\/u1BElEz7Tx<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Jennifer McClellan (@JennMcClellanVA) December 16, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n While there have been some concern among advocates that the incoming GOP-controlled House might seek to interfere in the implementation<\/a> of the legalization bill that outgoing Gov. Ralph Northam (D) signed into law in April<\/a>. But certain GOP legislators have given assurances that they will not attempt to block sales.<\/p>\n House Speaker-designee Todd Gilbert (R) and Del. Glenn Davis (R) said last month that the current system\u2014where adults 21 and older can possess and cultivate cannabis for personal use but there\u2019s no commercial access to marijuana products\u2014isn\u2019t tenable in the long term<\/a>. But questions have been raised about what kinds of changes they might seek to make even if they won\u2019t repeal the program altogether.<\/p>\n Gilbert did say that Democrats \u201cdidn\u2019t do [legalization] the right way,\u201d but \u201cwe\u2019re going to have to fix all that and we\u2019re going to work with the Democratic Senate to fix all that.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI imagine the roadmap that they laid out as to how that would occur, if they did it in the future, is going to change dramatically,\u201d he said<\/a>. \u201cBut obviously, we\u2019ve been left with that live grenade kind of rolling around and we need to fix it or else all we have is a black market.\u201d<\/p>\n When the legislature took up legalization this year, the reform measure passed\u00a0along party lines, without a single Republican voting in favor of the proposal on the floor of the Senate or Assembly. At the time, both chambers were controlled by Democrats.<\/p>\n It was an amendment offered by Northam<\/a> and adopted by the legislature that made it so personal possession and cultivation would be made legal for adults this year, rather than in 2024 as the bill originally stipulated.<\/p>\n For his part, Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin (R) said in April that he\u2019s \u201cnever met anybody who habitually used marijuana and was successful.\u201d In May he\u00a0described legalization<\/a>\u00a0as \u201canother problem that\u2019s going to be dumped at my feet\u201d should he be elected.<\/p>\n Northam was ineligible to run for re-election because Virginia prevents governors from serving consecutive terms.<\/p>\n It remains a possibility that Republicans could seek to undermine the state\u2019s legalization law, but it\u2019s also possible they could craft a bill more to their liking. That would likely mean less of a focus on social equity for communities most impacted by the war on drugs.<\/p>\n While GOP members opposed this year\u2019s legalization bill, pushback by many lawmakers centered on particular provisions, such a change by Northam that would\u2019ve allowed regulators to revoke a company\u2019s business license if it interfered with union organizing efforts or failed to pay prevailing wage.<\/p>\n GOP Lawmakers Blast Biden And Harris Over \u2018Continued Silence\u2019 On Marijuana And Urge Rescheduling<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of WeedPornDaily<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Virginia Legislative Joint Commission Recommends Speeding Up Marijuana Sales Launch By A Year<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
A Virginia legislature marijuana oversight panel on Thursday voted in favor of a recommendation to allow adult-use cannabis sales to launch in January 2023\u2014one year earlier than what\u2019s prescribed under the legalization law that passed this year. The legislature\u2019s Joint Commission on Cannabis Oversight voted 7-1, with one abstention, toContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51809"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51809"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51809\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51810,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51809\/revisions\/51810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: Virginia Legislative Joint Commission Recommends Speeding Up Marijuana Sales Launch By A Year<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"