Lawmakers in Richmond are working to create licenses for people to sell marijuana.
Members of the state Senate are considering what a marijuana marketplace would look like in Virginia. Senator Schuyler VanValkenburg is a Democrat from Henrico County who says it's important to make sure that big corporations don't crowd out everyone else.
"The way we do that is that we ensure that nobody can have more than five licenses, which is what the bill currently says, and that we ensure that there's multiple kind of ranges on those licenses for bigger businesses, smaller businesses, micro businesses," VanValkenburg. "And then we have some good language in there around equity to make sure that the licenses are going to a diverse set of people."
A special marijuana subcommittee in the Senate approved a bill to create a new licensing system on a party line vote this week. Senator Adam Ebbin of Alexandria has tried to create a licensing system for years.
"We have a reality that the illicit market has grown and is in the billions of dollars a year, and if the governor wants to take the potential tax revenue out of the hands of cartels and organized crime and reinvest it in Virginia communities, he would be wise to engage and sign a bill," Ebbin says.
Governor Glenn Youngkin has repeatedly said that he is not interested in legislation to create a marketplace for selling marijuana in Virginia.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
