Virginia governor Glenn Youngkin on Thursday vetoed a bill that would have created a legal market for the sale of recreational marijuana in Virginia.
“The proposed legalization of retail marijuana in the Commonwealth endangers Virginians’ health and safety,” Youngkin said in his veto statement. “States following this path have seen adverse effects on children’s and adolescent’s health and safety, increased gang activity and violent crime, significant deterioration in mental health, decreased road safety, and significant costs associated with retail marijuana that far exceed tax revenue.”
The governor also rejected the libertarian argument that cannabis legalization would curtail a black market for it and ensure drug safety.
Passed by the Virginia House and Senate last month, the bill would have opened the door for the state to accept applications in the fall for growing, testing, and selling the drug for market release on May 1, 2025. Products would have been taxed at a rate of up to 11.625 percent under the bill. Of that revenue pool, 8 percent would go to the state, 2.5 percent would have gone to localities, and 1.125 percent would have gone to K–12 education.
In Virginia, the first southern state to legalize marijuana consumption, the drug can be cultivated at home and exchanged at a peer level. Medical marijuana can also be obtained through permission from a healthcare provider. This bill would have approved retail sales.
“Addressing the inconsistencies in enforcement and regulation in Virginia’s current laws does not justify expanding access to cannabis, following the failed paths of other states and endangering Virginians’ health and safety,” Youngkin said.
In November, Ohio enacted a measure legalizing recreational marijuana after petitioners collected the required number of signatures to get the issue on the ballot. The measure legalized the sale and production of marijuana for people 21 and over. It permitted any person of legal age to grow up to six plants at home. Marijuana sales would be taxed at 10 percent.
The New Hampshire senate voted down a marijuana-legalization proposal in November 2023, after which Governor Chris Sununu announced his support for legalization if done “in the right way.”
Sununu, a Republican, had historically opposed the legalization of recreational marijuana. However, he had supported other marijuana measures, including decriminalizing possession, expanding access to medical marijuana, and providing a pathway to annul old marijuana-possession convictions.