WASHINGTON — Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin has officially vetoed legislation that would have created a marijuana marketplace in the commonwealth.
Senate Bill 448 and House Bill 698 would have allowed the Virginia Cannabis Control Authority to start issuing marijuana licenses on Sept. 1. However, those retail sales wouldn't have started until May 2025.
Earlier this month, Democrats said one of their biggest priorities is to establish a marketplace for recreational marijuana sales. The Democratic-controlled General Assembly passed the legislation at the end of February, but Youngkin, a Republican, indicated at the time he wouldn't sign it.
Youngkin wanted legislators to include funding for the $2 billion proposal to build a sports and entertainment district in Alexandria for the Washington Capitals and Wizards. When that never happened, Youngkin responded by saying, “I’ve been clear. I don’t have interest in the cannabis legislation. I’ve expressed that to people over and over again.”
That arena bill was officially declared dead on Wednesday. In a statement regarding the arena deal, Youngkin said his plan to bring $12 billion in economic activity "just went up in smoke."
“Here we are talking about an opportunity to bring 30,000 jobs, $12 billion of economic impact in the Commonwealth of Virginia and the fastest growing most dynamic area, which is sports and entertainment, and you want to talk about putting a cannabis shop on every corner? I don’t quite get it,” Youngkin said earlier this month.
Less than 24 hours after the arena announcement, Youngkin vetoed the two marijuana marketplace bills.
In a statement, Youngkin claimed the proposed legalization of retail marijuana would endanger Virginian's health and safety.
"States following this path have seen adverse effects on children’s and adolescent’s health and safety, increased gang activity and violent crime, significant deterioration in mental health, decreased road safety, and significant costs associated with retail marijuana that far exceed tax revenue," Youngkin's statement reads. "It also does not eliminate the illegal black-market sale of cannabis, nor guarantee product safety. Addressing the inconsistencies in enforcement and regulation in Virginia’s current laws does not justify expanding access to cannabis, following the failed paths of other states and endangering Virginians’ health and safety,"
"Cannabis is bad for Virginia," Youngkin told WUSA9's sister-station 13News Now in an interview on Thursday. "We see across other states that have retail markets for a while, a massive increase in adolescent usage, massive increase in child poisonings, and what that results from is an accessibility that is far greater than it would be otherwise. You couple this with the reality that cannabis today is so strong, and it’s causing severe mental illness, especially in adolescent users. Cannabis use disorder is so prominent, the incidents of psychosis are going through the roof, it’s terrible for children and adolescents."
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