Virginia Gov. Sends Legalized Weed Dreams Up in Smoke

If you have any friends in Virginia that still have their “Vote YES” yard signs on display, be kind to them; it’s been a tough couple of weeks.

The hardest hit may have been delivered on Tuesday when Gov. Abigail Spanberger vetoed the Marijuana Marketplace bills (House Bill 642 and Senate Bill 542). Most figured this was a “slam dunk.” “C’mon!”

You might hear them shout, “It’s an all-Democrat government and we DON’T have legal weed sales?”

Understandable, but we should consider the governor’s reasoning. No, not her future presidential bids. The statement she issued along with the veto stated: “It is critical that we incorporate lessons learned by other states and ensure that our regulatory framework is fully prepared to provide strong oversight from day one.”

Lessons learned in other states? Let’s dig into that.

Colorado is more than 12 years into recreational cannabis sales, the longest run in the country, and issues keep cropping up, involving everything from public consumption to tax policies. In 2012 and 2013, before they underlined the “high” in “Rocky Mountain High,” Coloradans were promised windfall tax revenue ($70 million) from marijuana sales taxes. Those numbers were never achieved. In the first year, they collected $44 million.

Since legalization in 2014, Colorado’s marijuana tax revenue has been tracked monthly by the Colorado Department of Revenue. While early years saw strong collections—peaking in 2021 at about $423 million—totals have declined sharply. By 2025, annual collections were about $236 million, and in early 2026 they were roughly $38 million, according to the Department of Revenue.

However, that’s just part of the issues that states allowing open sales of what is still listed as a Schedule I narcotic by the federal government have found.

Crash rates spiked with the legalization of recreational marijuana use and retail sales in California, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon and Washington, studies by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and the affiliated Highway Loss Data Institute show.

Another unforeseen consequence Spanberger might be referring to is that illicit marketplaces don’t go away when weed is legalized. From The Denver Gazette just last month: “A top regulator for Colorado’s Marijuana Enforcement Division acknowledged in a private meeting with industry representatives that the amount of chemically converted hemp being illegally sold as marijuana is far greater than the agency has publicly disclosed.”

Law enforcement points to lower costs and limited access to “the legal stuff.” Take New York state, for example, which has only 180 licensed dispensaries for 20 million people. They say you can have it, but now you can’t get it. Who ya’ gonna call?

This governor said in her statement, “It is my responsibility as Governor to make sure all new laws can be successfully implemented.” There seems to be mounting evidence that, given the stated goals of “decriminalization,” that doesn’t look possible.

At least the owner of the Cannabis Outlet in Portsmouth (State Senator Louise Lucas) can focus on her legal issues and not how to roll out a whole new line of products.

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