It’s here! Here’s what we know about Virginia’s adult-use cannabis bill
The long-awaited bill to legalize adult-use sales in Virginia has finally arrived! And this time (unlike countless other bills of a similar nature over the years) is likely to become law. Thank you, Governor Abigail Spanberger!
Below are the top ten new pieces of detail we’ve learned from this.
Retail licenses will be capped at 350
Retailers cannot have a retail sales floor more than 2,500 square feet (and some other unique local quirks for notifying others of intended business operations)
There will be no municipal “opt-outs”
Distance requirements between retailers will be 1,000 feet (not one mile as had been entertained at the Joint Commission to Oversee the Transition of the Commonwealth into a Cannabis Retail Market)
License types will be: cultivation, processing, retail, microbusiness, transporter, delivery, testing, and dual-use
Labor peace agreements will be required for all license types
Applications will be “on forms provided by the Board”
Qualifying “Impact Licensees” will need to meet four of seven qualifiers and have a 66% ownership in the business. These seven qualifiers are: having a prior marijuana conviction; being a parent, child, sibling, or spouse of an individual with a prior marijuana conviction; between the years 2011 and 2025 having resided in a jurisdiction disproportionately policed for marijuana crimes; for at least three of the past five years lived in a historically economically disadvantaged community; having attended a public elementary or secondary school located in a historically economically disadvantaged community; have received a Federal Pell Grant or attended for at least two years a college or university located in the Commonwealth at which at least 30 percent of the students, on average, are eligible for a Federal Pell Grant; being a veteran of the Armed Forces of the United States; or having qualified for financial assistance or relief from the U.S. Department of Agriculture as a distressed farmer in the last five years. (Talk about a lot of specific requirements!)
Financial details will need to be provided as part of the application
The timeline is set to begin accepting applications for some license types on July 1, licenses to then be issued starting September 1, and retail sales to begin in or around November 1 (quite a rapid timeline)
There is plenty more in store for us in the weeks and months ahead but the best next step is to reach out and see if you’re in a good position to apply and how you can start planning for what is likely to be a rigorous and quick turnaround for this application.