Cannabis is legal in some form in the vast majority of states, but a few holdouts remain. With no clear timeline for federal reform, individual states continue the push forward. Only a month into 2025, lawmakers in one Southern state are close to the finish line.
Virginia state senators advanced a bill that would create an adult-use marijuana industry, voting along party lines to pass the measure. A similar bill in the state’s House of Delegates is set to be voted on.
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The measure would permit adults over 21 to purchase 2.5 ounces of cannabis flower or “an equivalent amount of marijuana products.” Precisely what that means will be determined later. Adults could also share 2.5 ounces of cannabis, but any sort of gift with purchase would be illegal.
Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin vetoed a similar measure in 2024 and is expected to do the same this time around. The Republican, whose term ends in early 2026, argued that “the proposed legalization of retail marijuana in the Commonwealth endangers Virginians’ health and safety.”
While Virginia technically legalized adult-use cannabis in 2021, a law to regulate sales has yet to pass. Medical marijuana dispensaries do exist, but exorbitant product costs have led to a boom in the illicit market and driven consumers to neighboring states where weed is cheap and plentiful.
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Virginia is not the only place where cannabis is legal, but selling it is not. Nearby Washington, D.C., legalized pot in 2014. But without regulated dispensaries, a gray market continues to thrive.
Despite Youngkin’s assertion that legal sales are harmful, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle believe the governor may reconsider this time around as he prepares to exit office. If not, legislators will likely look ahead to 2026 as they work to finally get Virginia’s market off the ground.
