Legislators today voted to re-refer SB 591 to the Senate Rehabilitation and Social Services committee. With the 2022 legislative session having already ended, this vote effectively ends any further discussion on the legislation this year.
JM Pedini, NORML’s Development Director and the Executive Director of Virginia NORML, said that lawmakers’ inaction allows for products containing unregulated and potentially unsafe synthetically-derived THC products to continue to proliferate in Virginia.
“Sending SB 591 back to the Senate Rehabilitation and Social Services committee is not in the interest of public health or safety,” Pedini said. “By failing to take legislative action, unregulated products containing synthetically-derived THC will continue to be sold at retail and wholesale outside of the strict regulatory oversight currently required for legally produced cannabis products. Consumers deserve to know what they’re purchasing, and far too often what’s on the label is not what’s in the package when it comes to unregulated products.”
Personal possession and the cultivation of small quantities of cannabis by adults 21 and older is already permitted in Virginia under the 2021 legalization law approved by former Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam. Senate lawmakers approved separate legislation earlier this year to establish retail cannabis sales, but the bill died in the House after Republican members of the House General Laws Subcommittee rejected the measure.
Recently, Republican Gov. Glen Youngkin sought to recriminalize activities involving the possession of two ounces of marijuana by adults via the enactment of an amendment to SB 591. That effort also failed today with lawmakers’ refusal to advance SB 591.
