Virginia is well on its way to implementing a legal marijuana market, and while there’s more than enough Democrats in favor to pass the law, there have been a few Republicans who have supported the effort so far.
“I went back and forth on this bill a number of times. If you see my calendar, it would be ‘yes,’ ‘no,’ ‘yes, ‘no,’ 'yes,' no,'” Brunswick Delegate Otto Wachsmann told Radio IQ on Thursday, explaining his internal back and forth on the House’s legal marijuana market bill.
He joined a small cadre of Republicans who voted in favor of the effort. He said limits placed on sales in the bill are better than the unregulated sales the Commonwealth has now.
“By putting guardrails on it and having a legal, legitimate market instead of the black market, we can better control underaged sales, hopefully eliminate those, as well as verify that that product being used is pure product that’s not adulterated,” Wachsmann said.
Republican Wren Williams also voted in favor of the House effort. He said his support came from listening to his constituents, and the annual FloydFest music festival, thrown inside his Floyd County District.
“You can’t get everything you'd like, so there are details about the bill that I don’t like," Williams said. "But I do want us to get that regulated market into place instead of having to just continue to fight the black market that we are seeing across the Commonwealth.”
Tazewell Republican Delegate Will Morefield was the third and final yes from the right on the legal market bill. He said he’d wait to comment until a final version of the bill is voted on.
As for the rest of the Virginia GOP, Williams said votes against the legal market likely represent the values of their constituents.
“Some people have a moral stance against it just like some people don’t like any kind of drinking or anything,” he told Radio IQ.
No Republicans crossed the aisle to support the legal weed market bill in the Senate, but both chambers likely have enough supporters to approve the measure before the session ends in March.
Whether or not these Republicans will still support it then remains to be seen.
