In Virginia, medical and recreational marijuana is legal, although retail sales and recreational marijuana dispensaries haven’t yet been launched following delays with the approval of a re-enactment clause. However, residents in the southwest region of the state can still access the drug easily, with many stores openly selling the substance. This is despite some of these businesses being raided by law enforcement last year.
The sale of marijuana in this part of the country is surprising, especially since the stores are in the most conservative parts of Virginia. There’s at least one marijuana store in Tazewell County and another in Wythe County, which saw the majority of their residents vote for Donald Trump. Washington County and Bristol also have multiple stores, with more than 65% of residents in both counties voting Republican.
This conflicts with how lawmakers in the region vote, with GOP lawmakers in the General Assembly nearly unanimously opposing the legalization of retail marijuana. Additionally, Governor Glenn Youngkin vetoed a measure that was approved by the Democrats. This measure would have limited the number of licenses marijuana stores that could be awarded to 350. This is only 54 licenses short of the total number of Alcoholic Beverage Control board stores in Virginia.
This move may not have worked in the governor’s favor, however, with some towns in the southwest region now having more marijuana stores than liquor stores. For instance, Marian has at least two marijuana stores and a liquor store while Bristol has nine marijuana stores and two liquor stores.
It appears that the lawmakers may not reflect the will of the people in this regard. This is also evidenced by analysis which shows that when legal marijuana is on the ballot, GOP voters vote for legalization. This is backed by red states, including Montana and Missouri, which have voted in favor of recreational marijuana.
Additionally, legal marijuana has been approved in counties that overwhelmingly voted in favor of the GOP in the presidential vote, with Vinton being the most procannabis and Republican county in Ohio.
One of the downsides to this market is that the products being sold to consumers haven’t been tested for safety. This means that consumers have no way of knowing what’s in the marijuana they are purchasing. Tests carried out on marijuana purchased from Radford showed that the drugs had high levels of cadmium, lead and arsenic, while marijuana purchased from Roanoke County was moldy.
The marijuana industry, including leading companies such as Curaleaf Holdings Inc. (CSE: CURA) (OTCQX: CURLF), hope that the adult-use marijuana market in Virginia gets underway and allows people to access tested products so that they don’t expose themselves to potentially tainted black market products.
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