Recap of “Veto Session” - Marijuana Legal on July 1st

Victoria Cobb, President
Thursday, April 8, 2021

Yesterday’s Veto Session was disappointing, though not surprising. Perhaps the biggest item of contention, and the one we were closely following, was the Governor’s recommended changes to the marijuana bill. The biggest changes sought to: 1) Legalize the simple possession (up to one ounce) of recreational marijuana beginning this July 1st (instead of 2024), 2) Allow every household to grow up to four marijuana plants beginning July 1st (with no apparent ability to police it or keep it away from children), and 3) Add provisions to undermine Virginia’s “right to work” laws specifically through the marijuana industry.

The Democrat-controlled House approved the changes to both bills (HB 2312 & SB 1406) on a party-line vote of 53-44, with 2 abstentions and one not voting, except for Del. Bulova (D-Fairfax) who voted with Republicans against the changes.  The Democrat-controlled Senate voted 20-20 to approve the changes, which led to Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax voting to break the tie in favor of the Governor’s recommendations. Sen. Chap Petersen (D-Fairfax) joined all 19 Republicans in opposing the measure.

During the debate, Republicans pointed out how incredibly flawed the several-hundred-page bill was, how unprepared the state and particularly law enforcement are to handle all the new changes now, and how ‘no one had actually read the whole bill’ or the hundreds of changes the Governor had proposed in it. Other remarks focused on the individual and public health harms of the drug, as well as the problem of chipping away Virginia’s right-to-work law in favor of forced unionization. All of the reasonable objections fell on deaf ears, with the Left’s only consolation being, in essence, “well, there’s a reenactment clause so that it has to be reapproved next year.”

While that’s no reason to vote for a bad policy this year, it does present one more great reminder of why the 2021 elections for House of Delegates, Governor, and the tie-breaking Lieutenant Governor are so critical for Virginia now more than ever.

Now the only opportunity to stop this devastating drug from overrunning Virginia, enticing our young people, and harming families is to elect different representatives who will – literally and figuratively – keep our state from going to pot.