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Democrats who control the Virginia House of Delegates and state Senate agreed Wednesday on a framework establishing a legal market for recreational marijuana, teeing up the issue for Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R), who has not signaled whether he will sign, veto or amend the bills.
As passed on mostly party-line votes in both chambers Wednesday, the measures would have the marketplace up and running by May 2025, administered by a state Cannabis Control Authority. Retail sales would be taxed at a rate of 11.625 percent — higher than the 9 percent tax rate in nearby Maryland.
“This is one of the most monumental pieces of legislation that we’ve ever had before us,” House Minority Leader Todd Gilbert (R-Shenandoah) said in floor debate before casting a vote against the bill.
Del. Paul E. Krizek (D-Fairfax), sponsor of the House version, said it would create the market “in a responsible and thoughtful way. And we’ve done so because it’s time to give Virginia’s $3 billion illicit market a run for its money.”
The General Assembly legalized adult possession of small amounts of recreational marijuana in 2021, when Democrats were last in charge, but it put off the complicated task of establishing a regulated marketplace. Nothing got done in two years of Republican majorities in the House, but this year’s Democratic leaders — newly empowered by wins in last fall’s elections — vowed to address the topic.
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