RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger has vowed to keep working on creating a legal retail marijuana marketplace after vetoing recent legislation, saying the timeline for implementation was too rushed and that more work is needed to get the framework right. But advocates called the veto a "slap in the face."
"It's important we have a retail marijuana market, because again, the gray area is not one that is long-term tenable, but we have to get it right," Spanberger said Wednesday. "I look forward to doing that, look forward to partnering with members of the General Assembly to do that."
"This is a huge letdown to have not a first, not a second, but now a third veto in a row," said Chelsea Higgs Wise, Executive Director of Marijuana Justice. "We are just extremely disappointed that Virginia is going to stay in this middle ground."
The veto follows the General Assembly's rejection last month of Spanberger's proposed changes to the legislation.
"The General Assembly chose not to entertain any of my amendments, and that is absolutely their prerogative," she said. "It is also my prerogative as the chief executive of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the one who will be tasked with setting up a successful or an unsuccessful marijuana market, to ensure that we are getting it right... and so that puts us back at a place where we get to continue the conversation."
Among those proposed changes were delaying the Jan. 1 start date by six months and lowering the number of stores that could open in the first wave of the market. Spanberger said she wants a market with clear rules of the road for everyone and one that addresses issues around public health, enforcement, and testing.
"Those are my core priorities, and and those will continue to be my core priorities, as we are working on a bill that will pass and that I will ultimately and eventually sign," Spanberger said.
Cory McGookin, executive director of the Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police, said his group had initially opposed a legal retail market, but they realize it is going to happen eventually and want to make sure law enforcement have the tools needed to keep people safe.
"That when this comes upon us, that we can effectively protect the children, protect the roadways, those sorts of things," said McGookin. "We do alcohol impairment very, very well. But that's been refined over many decades of getting the science right, getting our training, and our tools. So this will be a whole different thing that we'll need that same sort of evolution."
As for how to move forward, Wise said Spanberger's stance leaves the two sides in "very different places", but added she is confident in the bill's patrons.
The main sticking point for Wise and JM Pedini, Development Director at the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), was the creation of tougher or new penalties, which they said would be a return to the war on drugs mentality that disproportionately impacted minority communities.
"She would have taken a public consumption that's just a $25 ticket, not even tracked in the system, and made it a class two misdemeanor, a new crime that people wouldn't be able to get jobs, homes, education, because of those collateral consequences," Higgs Wise said. "If we do this, we have to do it right for justice and to stop the harm that's been felt, particularly with Black communities, Latino communities, and poor people in Virginia."
Pedini said that without a regulated marketplace, the illicit market will continue to thrive.
"Just like under former Governor Youngkin, unlicensed operators are going to continue profiting off of unregulated marijuana, while public health and safety are left unprotected," Pedini said.
Lawmakers could potentially pursue legalization through the state budget, which has not yet been finalized, though that could also face a governor's veto.
If that path fails, the next opportunity to address the issue would be in the next legislative session in January.
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