Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin vetoed two top Democratic legislative priorities on Thursday: bills that would have allowed the recreational retail salesof marijuana to begin next year and measures mandating a minimum wage increase.
The development, which drew criticism from Democrats who control the General Assembly, did not come as a surprise. While Youngkin had not explicitly threatened to veto either set of bills, he told reporters he didn’t think the minimum wage legislation was needed and had repeatedly said he was uninterested in setting up retail marijuana sales.
In 2021, Virginia became the first Southern state to legalize marijuana, adopting a policy change that allowed adults age 21 and up to possess and cultivate the drug. But the state didn’t set up retail sales at the time and still hasn’t, due to shifts in partisan power and policy differences since then.
Youngkin and other Republicans don’t even consider the fact that people will buy weed regardless and all they’re doing is losing out on tax revenue. It likely won’t even increase the private prison population much. It’s pretty easy to hide the fact that you sell weed, especially if you can legally grow it.
I know people in Virginia, they just drive to DC for their weed. This guy is a dunce
DC or Maryland.
Maryland you can actually legally go into a shop and buy it, DC you’re still playing the donation game.
Yeah, I know people in Delaware that drive over the MD border for their chronic too
Yep. I’m in Indiana by the Illinois border. I just drive half an hour to the closest Illinois dispensary. Yes, I’m paying high taxes. I’m okay with that. Alcohol has an excise tax on it too.
I pay more than I used to here in NJ now that I buy it legal, but I figure the more tax revenue it brings to my state, the faster we get national legalization. Money talks
I figure the more tax revenue it brings to my state, the faster we get national legalization.
100% agreed. The more politicians can figure out that weed is a major cash cow like cigarettes and alcohol, the more will be in favor of legalization.
And (although I hate it) now that major corporations are getting involved, they’ll have the clout to start really lobbying hard.
You won’t be paying that much for long. Here in MA when stores opened a gram of wax was upwards of 80 dollars and now its down to 20 with discounts. Stores will just give you an 8th of weed as a bonus. My dispensary sells a 1/2g pre-roll for 3 bucks with tax when you spend over 50 bucks. If you have a medical card its even cheaper. I don’t because guns.
They aren’t making you pay the tax on it. They’re covering the tax for you because they can afford to with their profit margins.
That’s what you call a distinction without a difference.
It’s a difference because the customer saves money and the dispensary loses money, just not enough to seriously eat into their profits.
In VA you can order it online and have it delivered to your door the same day. Or so I’ve heard…
I buy so much weed. My state loves it.
Youngkin really shoving his head completely up his own ass. Thinks taking a stand against massively popular ballot measures will cement his presidential run, while at the same time proving his inability to govern by leaving millions of tax revenue on the table. Here’s hoping this ushers in even stronger Dem representation in VA to keep the state blue.
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I don’t know much about Youngkin, did all consultants that jumped ship from the Desantis campaign land with him?
Fucking Terry McAuliffe cemented his loss with, “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.”
My jaw hit the floor. I knew his campaign was doomed. What kind of idiot tells voters that they shouldn’t have a say in what their kids learn? He destroyed his career with that mouth breathing comment and pushed the entire state into a pile of shit.
I wanted to reach through the tv and slap him in his face. He pretty much handed this idiot the governor’s seat.
Fuck Trumpkin.
Yup. He hates his state’s economy. He also turned down a stadium for two national sports teams.
“Republican…”
Stopped reading.
Man, I hate it when politicians represent the will of the people.
The weird thing about it is this only helps criminals. They already have legal weed, so the only crime is how it is sold. If you make legal retail sales, then you give money to corporations (Republicans like that, right?) and also get sweet sweet tax revenue from it (Republicans also like getting money to pay for more police and military equipment for them, right?). This is a weird mix of not getting revenue to pay for stopping crime while also encouraging crime to happen.
