Virginia’s legislature is on its way to legalizing a retail weed market across the state, years after it decriminalized the substance. But small business groups and Virginia farmers are sounding the alarm ahead of any bills’ final passage.
Graham Redfern is with the Cannabis Small Business Association and runs his own farm and food shop in Caroline County in line with the existing, legal hemp market. He’d like to get into the marijuana business once a retail market is legalized, but he’s got concerns.
With a November 1st, 2026, start date in the House, and a January 1st, 2027, in the Senate, Redfern said both offer a number of obstacles.
“Cultivation requires significant investment and long lead times. Planting cycles cannot be accelerated to meet arbitrary, regulatory deadlines," Redfern said at a press conference at the Capitol Thursday. "Farmers cannot legally prepare the crop without a license and until then, you’re going to create a structural disadvantage and maybe criminalize the farmer.”
Michael Carter, Jr. runs Carter Farms and Afroculture in Orange County. He said there is big interest from Virginia farmers to get into the weed business, but either current timeline would leave farmers like him behind.
“This is not fair to our farmers. This is not fair to those who continue to grow products, and produce and proteins on the back of those farms that continue to grow Virginia," Carter said. "So, we want to stand and say, 'We need to push those start dates back.'"
He's hoping for the fall of 2027.
Both the House and Senate versions of the legal weed market bill are still moving through their opposite chambers, and the two will have to conform before the process is through.
As for Senate President Louise Lucas, who co-owns a store called the Cannabis Outlet in her home district of Portsmouth and will likely have a large say in the final version of the bill….
“I’m worried about [small businesses] too, I don’t want them left out," Lucas told Radio IQ. She added their concerns would "definitely” be addressed.
A final version of Virginia’s legal weed retail market bill should come to fruition in the coming weeks.
