Virginia Governor Vetoes Medical Marijuana Bill That Would Have Allowed Delivery To Locations Other Than Patients’ Homes

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) has vetoed a bill that would have allowed deliveries of medical marijuana directly to patients at locations other than their own homes.

As passed by the legislature earlier this year, the measure—HB 1989, from Del. Alex Askew (D)—would have made a number of changes to the the commonwealth’s existing medical marijuana program. For example, it would have update product labeling requirements so packaging would more clearly indicate THC and CBD levels, and it would clarify where and how cannabis could be delivered to patients, allowing direct deliveries to a variety of locations.

In March, after the legislature passed the legislation, Youngkin recommended an amendment that would remove language to allow marijuana to be delivered to places other than a patient’s private residence. Lawmakers later declined to make that change, however, and sent the unamended bill back to the governor.

The proposal had strong support in both chambers, passing the Senate on a 30–10 vote and winning final approval in the House on an 84–14 margin.

But late Friday, Youngkin formally rejected the measure.

“While accurate labeling is essential to ensure patients receive consistent and safe medical cannabis,” he wrote in a veto message,  “this bill would codify the ability to deliver medical cannabis to commercial businesses and temporary residences, raising public safety and regulatory concerns. Permitting deliveries to businesses—including locations where substance abuse, gambling, or other high-risk activities may occur—creates unnecessary risks for diversion, theft, and unintended access by minors.”

“Current regulations already provide for safe, tightly controlled home delivery of medical cannabis,” the governor added. “This framework ensures access for patients while maintaining strong safeguards to prevent misuse.”

JM Pedini, development director for the advocacy group NORML and executive director for Virginia NORML, said Youngkin’s veto of the bill was “yet another example of the attacks on legal cannabis and responsible consumers that are underway across the nation.”

“With his veto, Governor Youngkin has stripped Virginians of the reliable, direct-to-patient delivery services on which they have relied for years,” Pedini told Marijuana Moment in an email. “Now, patients will only be able to receive medical cannabis deliveries at their residence, placing significant burdens on those who don’t have the luxury of waiting around at home during the already limited delivery service windows.”

Youngkin in March also vetoed a host of other drug reform proposals passed by lawmakers, including one bill that would have legalized retail sales of adult-use marijuana—possession in the state is already legal—and another to authorize the prescription of a synthetic form of psilocybin as soon as the federal government authorizes its use.

Beyond the legal sales and psilocybin bills, the governor also rejected a number of other cannabis-related reforms this session, including efforts to resentence people serving time for cannabis offenses and protect the parental rights of those who legally use the drug.

Youngkin agued in a veto statement that legalizing sales of adult-use marijuana “endangers Virginians’ health and safety.”

“States following this path have seen adverse effects on children’s and adolescents’ health and safety, increased gang activity and violent crime, significant deterioration in mental health, decreased road safety, and significant costs associated with retail marijuana that far exceed tax revenue,” the governor claimed. “It also does not eliminate the illegal black-market sale of cannabis, nor guarantee product safety.”

Use, possession and limited cultivation of cannabis by adults are already legal in Virginia, the result of a Democrat-led proposal approved by lawmakers in 2021. But Republicans, after winning control of the House and governor’s office later that year, subsequently blocked the required reenactment of a regulatory framework for retail sales. Since then, illicit stores have sprung up to meet consumer demand, feeding an illegal market that some estimates value at nearly $3 billion.

Even before the start of the current legislative session, Youngkin’s office had signaled it had no interest in the reform.

Asked by Virginia Public Media (VPM) late last year about the likelihood of a veto, Christian Martinez, a spokesperson for the Youngkin, told the outlet: “I think you can cite the fact that time and time again he has been very clear on that.”

Youngkin is ineligible to run for reelection later this year, however, and reform advocates are already watching to see where his possible replacements stand on legalization and other cannabis policy changes.

Two frontrunners for the position—Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears and Democratic former U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger—have starkly different views on the reform.

Earle-Sears recently echoed Youngkin’s views, saying of legalization: “There’s no hope in that.”

She’s also said marijuana is a gateway drug and that she fired a previous employee for using it.

Spanberger, meanwhile, voiced support for a regulated retail market.

“We need a formalized, legal, emerging cannabis market,” she said. “We also need to make sure that [tax] revenues flow into Virginia and are used to strengthen our communities and public schools.”

Yet another bill passed this session will take effect without action from the governor: a House joint resolution to re-establish a commission of lawmakers who would study and oversee the state’s implementation of marijuana laws—what’s seen by some as an indication the legislature is intent on future action around cannabis.

HJ 497 will create a joint commission of lawmakers—six from the House, four from the Senate—to study the state’s cannabis system, oversee the implementation of marijuana laws and make recommendations about future legislative changes. It reflects a hope that whoever replaces Youngkin will be more open to a commercial cannabis market.

A similar commission previously existed in the commonwealth, but the law creating that body sunsetted last year, and the group disbanded.

Chelsea Higgs Wise, co-founder and executive director of the group Marijuana Justice, said the resolution’s adoption gives advocates better access to lawmakers “leading up to the next general session to prepare for the adult-use regulation bill.”

“Reestablishing the cannabis oversight commission is critical to review the concerns of all stakeholders,” she said in a statement to Marijuana Moment after the bill’s passage in the legislature. “The commission will offer public testimony and documented discussion on the crafting of the 2026 proposal.”

“After pushing legislation back for years,” she added, “we can deliver Virginia a regulated market with testing, guardrails and opportunity that we deserve.”

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Photo courtesy of Philip Steffan.