The Virginia House of Delegates and the Virginia Senate each passed bills on Friday designed to legalize recreational marijuana for adults throughout the state. If either bill passes the other legislative body and is signed by Governor Ralph Northam, who has expressed support for the measure, Virginia will be the first southern state to legalize recreational marijuana.
The House Bill, HB2312, passed with a vote of 55-42 primarily along party lines with some Republicans abstaining. The Senate bill, SB1406, passed with a vote of 21-15 with two Republicans voting in favor of the measure.
Each of the bills will now be sent to the other legislative body. Marijuana Moment reported that the bills “sailed through” committee and subcommittee meetings to reach this point before Friday’s crossover deadline, which is necessary for the bill to pass during the current legislative session.
State Sen. Adam Ebbin (D) referred to the bill in the Senate’s debate as “a forward-thinking deliberative approach to create a regulated adult use market for cannabis, which will reform our criminal justice system and begin the long process of undoing the harms of prohibition.”
The two bills do include some differences and will likely be considered in a bicameral conference which will send one proposed bill to the governor from both bodies. “I think that Virginia is on a path to an equitable legalization plan for marijuana. There have been a few bumps, but I’m hopeful that we’ll have a polished bill we can agree upon in the next few weeks,” said Ebbin, one of the chief patrons of that chamber’s bill, according to ABC News.
The bill which passed in the Senate allows smaller jurisdictions to not allow retail stores to sell marijuana and requires a second vote on legalization in the next legislative session before the bill is finalized. The two bills have different starting dates for legalizing possession of marijuanna, however, both have retail sales starting in 2024 with a new regulatory body. Both of the bills also earmark a majority of the tax revenue from marijuana sales to use for providing preschool to at-risk children.
Republicans who spoke against the bills argued that legalizing marijuana could lead to an increase in youth use of the drug and an increase in impaired driving.
