Virginia’s cannabis regulator moves downtown HQ to Henrico – Richmond BizSense

The state agency tasked with oversight of Virginia’s cannabis industry has exited its downtown headquarters in favor of a new spot in the leafy suburbs.

The Virginia Cannabis Control Authority relocated last month to the Deep Run III office building at 9954 Mayland Drive in western Henrico.

The CCA occupies about 15,000 square feet in its new space, which replaces its former headquarters in the Virginia Workers’ Compensation Commission building at 333 E. Franklin St. in the city. The CCA said the move makes it more accessible to the general public in a space better laid out for its employees’ needs.

An agency spokeswoman said the Deep Run space was appealing because it has a conference center that allows more people to attend the organization’s board of directors meetings and has free parking that meeting attendees can utilize.

“This space was selected after an extensive search of properties, identified through a request for proposals, in the central Virginia region,” the spokeswoman said in an email. “The CCA successfully negotiated lease terms that include a rent-free period resulting in a cost-effective solution to optimize space utilization and give the public better accessibility to the agency.”

The organization, which has about 30 full-time employees, oversees the state’s medical marijuana program and cannabis regulation and policy in Virginia. The agency took over oversight of the state’s medical program from the Board of Pharmacy this year.

The CCA occupies suite 3100 in the building, which was once part of the headquarters campus of now-defunct electronics retailer Circuit City. The property is owned by Massachusetts-based RMR Group, which acquired the 355,000-square-foot office building for $56 million in 2019.

The Deep Run III building at 9954 Mayland Drive in Innsbrook.

The CCA moved into its new space around the time Gov. Glenn Youngkin appointed Roxann Robinson to the agency’s five-member board of directors.

Robinson is a retired optometrist and former Republican member of the House of Delegates, where she served from 2010 to 2024.

The board’s other members are: Neil Amin, CEO of Shamin Hotels; John Keohane, retired Hopewell police chief; Michael Massie, a Portsmouth trial attorney; and Anthony Williams, a former Drug Enforcement Administration official.

Amin and Massie were appointed by former Gov. Ralph Northam, and have served on the board since the CCA was created in 2021. That was the same year that recreational use of marijuana became legal in Virginia. Keohane and Williams are Youngkin appointees.

While it’s legal for adults to possess and use cannabis recreationally in Virginia, it remains illegal to sell recreational cannabis within the state. That’s despite attempts in the last several years by legislators to launch a legal recreational market. Currently, only the companies involved in the state-sanctioned medical cannabis program can legally sell marijuana in Virginia.

The state allows one company to grow and sell medical marijuana in each of its five health service areas. New York-based company Cannabist has permission to operate in Health Service Area 4, which covers the Richmond and Petersburg areas. Cannabist also controls the license for Health Service Area 5, which includes Hampton Roads and eastern Virginia.

Licensees are able to operate up to five satellite dispensaries in addition to a single pot growing-and-processing facility within the borders of each licensee’s associated health service area. In the zone that includes Richmond, Cannabist grows marijuana at a Manchester facility, which has an in-house dispensary, and operates satellite dispensaries under the Cannabist and gLeaf brands.

Cannabist opened a dispensary in eastern Henrico earlier this year, following the opening of its other satellite dispensaries in Carytown, Short Pump and Colonial Heights in recent years.

This fall, the CCA announced it had picked Metrc, a Florida-based company, to run a seed-to-sale tracking program for the state’s medical cannabis companies. The system is slated to launch in summer 2025 and is intended to monitor the quality and safety of cannabis sold in the state from planting to production and sales.