The number that mattered most in Governor Abigail Spanberger’s original marijuana legislation was 400 — the retail licenses Virginia would issue to launch its legal cannabis market. In her amended proposal released Tuesday, that figure has been slashed. The new plan starts with significantly fewer storefronts, a concession to lawmakers who worried the state was moving too fast.
The revised framework also restructures the tax burden. Instead of implementing the full state sales tax immediately, Spanberger’s administration will phase in increases that eventually reach 21 percent — on top of local taxes that could push the total levy past 30 percent in some jurisdictions. For Richmond consumers who’ve been buying from unlicensed dealers since possession became legal in 2021, the math will matter.
“We are working to set up a marketplace that is controlled, regulated, and responsible — because legal markets only succeed when there are clear guardrails and enforcement to back it up,” Spanberger said in a statement accompanying the amendments.
The governor’s pivot reflects the political reality in a General Assembly where marijuana retail has been debated, delayed, and nearly declared dead multiple times since Democrats first legalized possession five years ago. Social equity applicants — the entrepreneurs the state promised would benefit from licenses reserved for those harmed by marijuana criminalization — have watched that promise erode with each legislative session.
Richmond sits at the center of this tension. The city’s Black neighborhoods bore the brunt of decades of marijuana enforcement; between 2010 and 2019, Black Richmonders were arrested for marijuana possession at more than three times the rate of white residents, according to ACLU data. The social equity provisions were supposed to be reparative. Fewer initial licenses means fewer opportunities in that first wave — and in cannabis markets from California to Illinois, the first wave has determined who builds generational wealth and who gets squeezed out by better-capitalized competitors.
The phased tax increase presents its own complications. Colorado and Washington State discovered that high taxes simply preserve the black market they’re meant to eliminate. A customer in Church Hill can already buy an eighth for $35 from someone they know. If the legal price hits $55 after taxes, the enforcement burden shifts to a state that hasn’t demonstrated the capacity — or the political appetite — to crack down on unlicensed sales.
Spanberger’s office argues the guardrails will build public confidence, making the market more sustainable long-term. Critics counter that sustainability means nothing if the market never reaches the consumers it needs.
The General Assembly will take up the amended proposal when it reconvenes. For Richmond’s would-be dispensary owners — some of whom have been waiting since 2021 with business plans and lease negotiations on hold — the question isn’t whether legal marijuana is coming. It’s whether they’ll still be solvent when it arrives.
- Governor Spanberger’s amended marijuana proposal significantly reduces the number of initial retail licenses Virginia will issue
- State sales tax on cannabis will phase in gradually, eventually reaching 21 percent
- Black Richmonders were arrested for marijuana possession at more than three times the rate of white residents between 2010-2019
- Possession has been legal in Virginia since 2021, but retail sales have yet to launch