RICHMOND, Va. — Author's note: The video above is on file from March 2021, when 13News Now ran a "Pot for Profit" series about marijuana legalization in Virginia.
A Republican-led panel of Virginia House members has blocked a bill that would have allowed limited retail sales of recreational marijuana to begin later this year.
On a 5-3 party-line vote, the subcommittee defeated the measure that had cleared the Democrat-controlled Senate.
It would have allowed for existing medical marijuana providers and a limited number of industrial hemp processors to begin selling recreational marijuana in mid-September, more than a year before the full retail market would have opened in 2024.
Adult possession is currently legal in Virginia but there's no way to buy recreational marijuana.
Republicans and Democrats have expressed concern that will fuel growth in the illicit market.