Marijuana bills stall in Virginia’s GOP-controlled House

RICHMOND, Va. — As the Virginia General Assembly reaches the halfway point of this year’s session, one of the year’s most complicated issues — possible changes to the state’s new law legalizing recreational marijuana — has stalled in the GOP-controlled House. Another bill The legislation, which appeared to be the main marijuana bill offered by House Republicans, also called for eliminating a provision in the 2021 law that calls for giving special consideration for marijuana business licenses to social equity applicants, including people convicted of marijuana crimes or members of their immediate families. One bill would allow existing medical marijuana providers to begin selling recreational marijuana to adults a year earlier than the Jan. 1, 2024, date called for in the 2021 law. Ebbin said he has had discussions with several House Republicans “in the hopes we can work out an equitable arrangement” on establishing the state’s retail marijuana market. “In that spirit, I’m hopeful we can work out a way for adults 21 and over to be able to access a tested, regulated, taxed product.” JM Pedini, executive director of the Virginia chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, said that if a reenactment bill is going to succeed during the current legislative session, “it will require major compromise.”