Weed sales legal in Md., but not Va. Youngkin’s ‘not interested’ in change.

“Gov. Youngkin has stated that he is not interested in any further moves towards legalization of adult recreational-use marijuana, so I wouldn’t expect that during his administration,” Joseph Guthrie, commissioner of the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, said at a public meeting in late June.

Guthrie’s comments, which were first reported by the Daily Progress, reinforced a widely held belief among Democrats and industry stakeholders that Youngkin would seek to sidestep the issue as he raises his national profile. A spokesperson for the governor did not elaborate, noting only that retail sales are illegal and that the authority to begin building a legal recreational market rests with state lawmakers.

The inaction — two years after Virginia became the first state in the South to legalize cannabis — has frustrated people eager to break into the cannabis industry and consumers who want access to safe, regulated marijuana products. It has also left police and prosecutors navigating a proliferation of creative workarounds that have sprung up to provide intoxicating weed products amid legal uncertainty.

While marijuana remains illegal under federal law, a cultural shift in acceptance of the plant and desire to eliminate racial disparities in law enforcement has seen 23 states roll back restrictions as voters embrace choice and officials welcome tax revenue. Maryland recorded nearly $21 million in retail sales in the week of July 1, when it became the first state in the Mid-Atlantic to launch a legal recreational market. But for now, Maryland’s adult-use market is an outlier in the region.

In D.C., Congress has blocked lawmakers’ efforts to stand up a recreational market, and Virginia’s plans to do so by 2024 have become ensnared in the state’s shifting balance of political power.

Democrats set the goal to create a recreational market for weed in 2021, when the party held the governor’s mansion and both chambers of the General Assembly. Then, voters elected Youngkin, and Republicans took control of the state’s House of Delegates, where efforts from Democrats and a few Republicans to clear the way for legal weed sales have stalled out.

“The house Republicans and Gov. Youngkin have not been helpful in moving cannabis policy forward in Virginia,” said Sen. Adam P. Ebbin, a Democrat from Northern Virginia who this year sponsored a bill to create a framework for legal sales to adults 21 and older.

Ebbin said that Virginia’s best hope for setting up a legal market for recreational cannabis sales would come from Democrats seizing control of the State House following the election this fall, when all 40 state senate seats and 100 seats in the State House will be decided.

If Democrats held both chambers of the General Assembly, “I would think we could get a bill passed,” Ebbin said. But even then, Youngkin’s veto could block recreational marijuana sales in a state that has otherwise made the drug legal.

“Whether or not we could get [a bill] signed is another matter,” Ebbins added.

The Republican lawmakers who oppose the creation of a recreational market have accused Democrats of moving too fast to decriminalize the drug without a solid regulatory plan in place. Many fundamentally opposed the legalization of marijuana, citing potential impacts on public health and safety.

In 2022, when House Republicans blocked an effort to stand up a legal market, House Speaker Todd Gilbert blamed Democrats for making “a great big mess when they legalized marijuana … We are left having to clean up their mess and we will not make it worse by rushing to fix it.”

Virginia is far from the only state to face problems as it legalized cannabis. New York faced similar challenges with a burgeoning illicit market that the governor is still trying to beat back. The troubles that unfolded in Virginia and New York spurred Maryland to move quickly to create a recreational market after voters chose to decriminalize the drug for adult use.

The murky legal landscape that exists now allows Virginians to possess up to one ounce of marijuana without fear of arrest. Adults can grow the plant at home, outside of public view. A medical market exists to supply patients with legal cannabis prescribed by a doctor.

But no one can legally buy or sell recreational weed, which hasn’t stopped people from throwing weed parties, ordering online to have the drug delivered to their doorstep, sharing homemade baked goods laced with THC and selling art that comes with “gifts” — all without testing requirements or taxes.

“Virginia has sort of a weird status quo,” said Greg Habeeb, a former Republican state delegate who now works as a lobbyist for the Virginia Cannabis Association, a trade group. “You can grow it, consume it, possess it — but you just can’t sell it.”

The group, which includes medicinal cannabis cultivators and hemp growers who want to see recreational marijuana sales made legal, makes the case that it’s a public safety issue. They are joined by lawmakers and law enforcement officers who describe sometimes dangerous consequences of the illicit cannabis market.

Some Republican lawmakers, including some who did not support legalizing cannabis possession, agree that the lack of a legal recreational market hurts public safety.

In a January subcommittee hearing on a bill that would have moved the state closer to legal marijuana sales, Del. Keith Hodges (R) said the status quo was creating a “public health crisis.” The delegate also raised concerns that illicit sales fund drug cartels and lead people to buy tainted marijuana, in some cases causing people to unintentionally be exposed to fentanyl.

Lawmakers, industry leaders and lobbyists like Habeeb say the lack of a legal market pushes people into the black market and blocks testing and licensing requirements that would safeguard against the most dangerous consequences. “It pains me to point out when Maryland does something better than Virginia,” Habeeb said.

One major concern is the proliferation of unlicensed businesses that are selling edibles that look like junk food but can be loaded with significant amounts of delta-8 THC because of the lack of regulations — a recipe for disaster when children are involved. State lawmakers moved this year to outlaw products with more than .03 percent THC from any source, but those new rules just took effect July 1 and may prove difficult to enforce.

“For the last 24 months, we have seen this booming industry of edible products that are sitting on the shelves of your local convenient stores or, worse, in these pop-up vape shops,” said Shannon Taylor, president of the Virginia Association of Commonwealth’s Attorneys who also serves as the Commonwealth’s Attorney in Henrico County. “You have no idea what’s in it, and you very well may be getting an intoxicating volume of THC.”

Taylor said one estimate from a state report suggests there could be anywhere between 1,500 to 1,800 unregulated shops selling THC-containing products throughout the state — and her main concern is that those unlicensed businesses sometimes operate close to high schools. But without a regulatory system, Taylor said there is little that police can do to curtail potential bad actors.

Nationally, there has been a steep increase in calls to poison control after minors consume unregulated and poorly labeled delta-8 THC products, or other hemp-derived cannabinoids. In Spotsylvania County, prosecutors said a 4-year-old boy died after consuming THC gummy candies; his mother pleaded guilty in June to involuntary manslaughter charges for failing to seek immediate medical attention. Police in nearby Stafford County said three toddlers went to the hospital last year after eating goldfish crackers that contained THC.

Taylor said prosecutors also have concerns about how to enforce increased rates of driving while intoxicated and other crimes that occur in proximity to the illicit cannabis market — such as robberies and murders during drug deals. Establishing a market would give state officials more tools to civilly or criminally sanction businesses that don’t follow the law, advocates for the move say.

In its absence, some consumers have turned to hemp-derived products, often labeled as delta-8 THC, that could be sold at gas stations through the loophole that the legislature closed this year. Others buy from black market dealers who sell products with unknown concentrations of THC or that law enforcement officials warn could even be tainted.

“If we do nothing, we have a problem on our hands,” Hodges said when the Assembly’s last attempt to create a recreational market failed.