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Virginia Legislators Pass Bills to Legalise Marijuana Sales and Change the 280e Tax!

Legislators in Virginia passed bills on Friday that would make it legal to sell marijuana to adults and allow cannabis businesses to deduct some taxes at the state level while being forbidden from doing so at the federal level by Internal Revenue Service (IRS) code 280E.

The 280E resolution received a 40-0 Senate vote with Sen. Adam Ebbin casting the lone affirmative vote (D). The equivalent version from Delegate Jeffrey Campbell (R) of the House of Delegates was approved by the Appropriations subcommittee with a vote of 7-1. The full panel will now review it.

The bill tries to break the links between Virginia’s marijuana sector and the federal tax system, just like lawmakers in many states, including New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania, have pushed to do.

Businesses that sell cannabis for medical and recreational purposes in the state would be able to write off costs that are presently not deductible under IRS code 280E on a federal level.

Separately, the Senate’s Rehabilitation and Social Services Committee, which is controlled by Democrats, voted 9–6 to send a bill by Ebbin authoring sales of marijuana for adult use to the Finance and Appropriations Committee.

There have been questions unresolved about how the state legislature will handle cannabis commerce for adults in the 2023 session after lawmakers passed a measure in 2021 legalizing marijuana possession for anybody age 21 and older.

The sales-related provisions of the legislation needed to be re-enacted, but in 2022, with a new Republican governor and a GOP-controlled House of Delegates, lawmakers took no action on the issue.

Since then, proponents have found it difficult to go forward with a prospective commercial market because of the House’s stark division among MPs. According to the plan that a Senate committee passed on Friday, the recreational cannabis market will start operating on January 1, 2024.

Virginia Legislators Pass Bills to Legalise Marijuana Sales and Change the 280e Tax!

This year, Congress, state legislatures, and Marijuana Moment are monitoring hundreds of measures about marijuana, psychedelics, and drug policy.

We give access to our interactive maps, infographics, and hearing schedule to Patreon backers who pledge at least $25 each month so they won’t miss any changes.

Sales would take place at existing medical marijuana shops as well as brand-new businesses controlled by people who live in “historically economically disadvantaged communities.” Current marijuana firms would provide these operators with guidance and support.

Individuals who are currently in jail for cannabis-related charges are now eligible for resentencing under the new statute.

It is questionable if the House would be willing to embrace the proposal if it ever reaches the full Senate, which is still dominated by Democrats. GOP lawmakers have recently put up several ideas that are meant to provide a framework for controlled sales.

A House committee attempted to approve legislation governing marijuana sales early on in the previous year, but it was unsuccessful.

While some advocates, like those with Virginia NORML, have urged lawmakers to allow sales to begin as soon as possible so that customers can access regulated products, others have expressed concerns that giving existing medical cannabis businesses a head start in the recreational market could ultimately undermine equity for communities that have been targeted by the war on drugs.

One of the most vocal supporters of equity interests, Marijuana Justice, called the revised alternative wording of Ebbin’s sales legislation “a big success” since it “reflected the public concerns surrounding exclusive early sales and the criterion for the opportunity.”

In an email to supporters, the group stated: “The current replacement requires that, if medical operators were to start sales first, then a 1:1 ratio must be met between medical operators and small firm franchisees.”

Furthermore, it was made apparent what was necessary to be eligible for cannabis opportunities in various Virginian regions.

Virginia Legislators Pass Bills to Legalise Marijuana Sales and Change the 280e Tax!

The Senate earlier this month also passed a measure sponsored by Sen. Mark Obenshain (R), which wants to extend the prohibitions on alcohol promotion to marijuana marketing.

Further legislation about the security of cannabis products, inhalable products, expanding cultivation operations, and developing a “Cannabis Incubator Project” was recommended to the Finance and Appropriations Committee Committee on Friday by the Senate Rehabilitation and Social Services Committee.

Additionally, a Senate Education and Health subcommittee decided to send two proposals that deal with the creation and management of the state’s medicinal marijuana program to the entire panel.

That same subcommittee had earlier on Friday passed a bill that would establish a statewide psilocybin advisory board and move the psychedelic to a lower scheduling under California law.

The choice was made about a week after a different Virginia House of Delegates subcommittee turned down a proposal to legalize the use of psilocybin for serious medical conditions with a prescription.

Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) has remarked that there is “more work to be done” before he supports the creation of a market for commercial sales and cultivation, even if he is not in favor of re-criminalizing marijuana possession.

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