Although Virginia’s retail cannabis marketplace will largely be regulated at the state level, some aspects will be left for localities to govern.
Hanover County supervisors directed staff to research and draft a set of ordinances related to retail marijuana sales on Wednesday, in anticipation of the marketplace’s launch on July 1, 2027.
Supervisors received a presentation from County Attorney Dennis Walter as staff consider rules and regulations related to retail weed. Walter said the goal is for the board to proactively work on these ordinances so that they go into effect by February 2027, ahead of the July start date.
“Going forward, this may be a tool that the board will have if someone comes in and wants to put in a retail establishment in a particular place,” Walter said Wednesday. “The board will have some ability to impact or at least weigh-in on licenses going forward.”
Possession and consumption of small amounts of recreational pot have been legal in Virginia since 2021, but a non-medicinal, retail marketplace has been repeatedly vetoed by both governors since then.
The state budget agreed to by the General Assembly and Gov. Abigail Spanberger includes provisions to launch the retail cannabis marketplace next fiscal year, a six-month delay from lawmakers’ desired start date of Jan. 1, 2027. (Virginia’s fiscal year runs July 1–June 30.)
Virginia’s Cannabis Control Authority will be responsible for the issuance of licenses for retail storefronts, cultivators, processors, testing facilities and distributors. However, some rules and regulations related to marijuana sales will be left to towns, cities and counties.
For example, local governments will be able to regulate their retail sales taxes and zoning regulations, as well as establish criminal penalties for possession in select locations and sales outside approved hours of operation.
Walter said localities will also have an indirect effect on the marketplace through the license application process. Provisions established by the Cannabis Control Authority state that the board may refuse to issue a license if the applicant is deemed to be “detrimental to the interest, morals, safety, or welfare of the public.”
The authority will also consider several potential local impacts during the process, including objections filed by local governing bodies; health and safety regulations; and the proximity of schools, hospitals or childcare facilities.
Walter recommended stakeholders in the county’s finance, public safety and community development departments consider the impacts the forthcoming cannabis marketplace will have on Hanover as staff draft new policies — a process similar to last summer, when the county revised its zoning code to restrict new smoke and vape shops.
Hanover’s supervisors were unanimously supportive of Walter’s recommendations, though Cold Harbor Supervisor Michael Herzberg expressed some reservations about the law and the process by which it was passed by the General Assembly. (The new law only addresses the sale of recreational cannabis.)
“I want to make sure everyone knows that this is not a law or a new policy that this board approves,” Herzberg said Wednesday. “It was done by the General Assembly through the budget process, and we have to follow the law.”
Walter said county staff may take two to three months to develop draft zoning ordinances related to retail storefronts before they’re presented to the board.
