Efforts to legalize adult-use marijuana sales in Virginia got a boost on Tuesday with the election of Abigail Spanberger as the state’s next governor. The Democrat supports the reform, unlike outgoing Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R), who twice vetoed measures to enact it that were sent to his desk by the legislature.
Spanberger, a former congresswoman, told Marijuana Moment ahead of the election that “as Virginia takes steps toward creating a legalized retail market for cannabis,” the commonwealth “needs a clear strategy to set up a market that is safe for consumers, transparent for businesses, and fair to entrepreneurs.”
She added that “revenue from commercial cannabis products must return to Virginia communities and be reinvested for purposes like strengthening our public schools.”
Spanberger said she will “work with leaders in the General Assembly to find a path forward that both prioritizes public safety and grows Virginia’s economy”—and that part of that is establishing “a formalized, legal, emerging cannabis market.”
Use and possession of marijuana has been legal in Virginia since 2022, but retail sales remain banned—a situation that’s helped fuel a multibillion-dollar illicit market. Despite efforts by Democrats in past years to legalize and regulate the retail system, Youngkin has stood in the way of the reform, vetoing proposals passed by lawmakers during each of the last two sessions.
Spanberger’s pro-legalization stance contrasts with that of Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears (R), who she defeated in Tuesday’s gubernatorial election. The GOP candidate has called cannabis a “gateway drug.”
During a debate last month she said that as the owner of a utility repair business she had a zero-tolerance policy for marijuana consumption, fearing that working who tested positive for THC while working with gas and electricity would “blow everything up.”
At the debate, Spanberger discussed her support for establishing a legal and regulated cannabis sales system, saying that “it’s important that there be transparency in what is available on the market.”
“As a former federal agent who worked narcotics cases, as a CIA officer who tracked transnational criminal organizations, as the only person on stage who’s had a bill signed into law by President Trump restricting fentanyl flowing into our country and tightening our border security, and as the only person on stage with the endorsement of the Police Benevolent Association, it is extraordinarily important that we have transparency and that there is a clear market in order to be enforced,” she said.
The new governor-elect last year also said “there are a lot of gray areas in terms of how we procure recreational marijuana within Virginia—and the state needs “a clear strategy and plan to transition Virginia into a state that has legalized retail markets that can focus on these concerns.”
During her time in Congress, Spanberger voted twice on the House floor in support of bills to federally legalize marijuana. She also consistently backed legislation to free up banking services for the industry, protect all state cannabis program from federal interference and expand marijuana research. The former congresswoman additionally opposed a proposal to remove protections for universities that study cannabis.
She voted against certain reform proposals, however, including on measures to lift certain research barriers for Schedule I drugs and to revise federal policy to prevent past marijuana use from being used as a factor to determine eligibility for a security clearance.
Spanberger cosponsored bills to provide medical cannabis access for military veterans on two occasions, and she cosponsored the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act during the 116th Congress.
In 2018 she posted on Twitter that she supports legislation to reschedule marijuana to a Schedule III substance.
Medical marijuana
I support the CARES Act and HR 1227. I also support HR 1220 which would reschedule marijuana from Class I to Class III.— Abigail Spanberger (@SpanbergerForVA) February 23, 2018
When Spanberger is inaugurated in January, she will have an expanded Democratic majority in the House of Delegates to work with as a result of Tuesday’s election results, as well as an existing majority in the Senate, members of which were not up for election this year.
“Governor-elect Spanberger’s win finally gives Virginia the long-overdue opportunity to establish a regulated adult-use cannabis market,” JM Pedini, executive director for Virginia NORML and development director at NORML’s national organization, told Marijuana Moment. “Legislators have done the work and the public is ready. Now it’s time to deliver a safe, legal marketplace that serves consumers and communities instead of the illicit market.”
In recent months, a Virginia legislative commission has been discussing plans to prepare the state to legalize recreational marijuana sales.
Del. Paul Krizek (D), chair of the Joint Commission to Oversee the Transition of the Commonwealth into a Cannabis Retail Market, began the most recent meeting last month by noting it would be the second-to-last for the body—saying that at the next and final one in December, members will “go over the bill that we are working on now.”
The plan is for the body to suggest a proposal that the full legislature can consider passing in the 2026 session that begins in January.
At the legislative commission’s first meeting in July, members discussing broad regulatory considerations and other issues related to THC potency, the hemp market and more. In August, the panel focused on cannabis taxes and revenue.
Meanwhile, a top Democratic Virginia senator recently said the state should move forward with legalizing recreational marijuana sales—in part to offset the Trump administration’s cuts to federal spending in support of states.
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