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Virginia House lawmakers have approved a bill to legalize and regulate recreational marijuana sales<\/a>\u2014one of several cannabis reform proposals under consideration in the 2026 session.<\/p>\n After companion versions of the legislation advanced through a House subcommittee and a Senate committee last week, the full House General Laws Committee passed the measure from Del. Paul Krizek (D) l in a 19-2 vote on Tuesday. It next heads to the Appropriations Committee before it will potentially reach the floor.<\/p>\n Del. Adele McClure (D), chair of the subcommittee, said at the full panel hearing that the proposal \u201cestablishes a comprehensive regulatory framework for adult-use cannabis in the Commonwealth of Virginia, including rules for a retail market, penalties for violations, and programs to address past harms for from prohibition.\u201d<\/p>\n She also briefly described changes to the bill included in a substitute version the panel approved, stating<\/a> that it \u201cincreases the penalties for any illegal sales of marijuana and changes to the makeup of the board of directors of the Virginia Cannabis Control Authority.\u201d<\/p>\n The bill largely aligns with recommendations released last month by the legislature\u2019s Joint Commission to Oversee the Transition of the Commonwealth into a Cannabis Retail Market<\/a>.<\/p>\n Since legalizing cannabis possession and home cultivation in 2021,\u00a0Virginia lawmakers have worked to establish a commercial marijuana market<\/a>\u2014only 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.<\/p>\n Krizek, who chaired the joint commission that produced the regulatory recommendations, said at last week\u2019s House subcommittee hearing that HB 642 \u201chas had a tremendous amount of input and intent and with intention, and we hope we can process it through the finish line.\u201d<\/p>\n Under the measure as approved, adult-use cannabis sales could begin on November 1. That\u2019s shorter timeline compared to the Senate companion, which calls for sales to start on January 1, 2027.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are being ambitious, and we\u2019ll see how that plays out in conference,\u201d Krizek said.<\/p>\n Here are the key details of the Virginia marijuana sales\u00a0legalization<\/a>\u00a0legislation<\/a>:<\/strong><\/p>\n Newly sworn-in\u00a0Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D) supports legalizing adult-use marijuana sales<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cRight now is that we live in this gray space where there\u2019s some legality to marijuana, there\u2019s some illegality,\u201d she said ahead of taking office. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of questions\u2014a lot of confusion\u2014and that creates real problems for Virginians who might currently have the legal ability to buy it for medicinal needs, or for those who might try to fall under the personal use.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2014 Meanwhile, Virginia lawmakers have filed other marijuana-related legislation for the 2026 session, including proposals to\u00a0provide resentencing relief for people convicted of past cannabis crimes<\/a>\u00a0and to\u00a0let terminally ill patients use medical marijuana in hospitals<\/a>\u00a0and other healthcare facilities.<\/p>\n Separately, the Virginia Department of Labor and Industry recently published a new\u00a0outlining workplace protections for cannabis consumers<\/a>.<\/p>\n The post Virginia Lawmakers Approve Bill To Legalize Recreational Marijuana Sales<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Virginia House lawmakers have approved a bill to legalize and regulate recreational marijuana sales\u2014one of several cannabis reform proposals under consideration in the 2026 session. After companion versions of the legislation advanced through a House subcommittee and a Senate committee last week, the full House General Laws Committee passed theContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":85278,"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\/85277"}],"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=85277"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85277\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85279,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85277\/revisions\/85279"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: Virginia Lawmakers Approve Bill To Legalize Recreational Marijuana Sales<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"