Latest / NRBC Compliance Brief / Vol. 1, Ed. 41 — Wed Sep 23: Special Edition — Virginia adult-use draft rules
Transcript
- This is a special edition of the New Realm Compliance Brief, Volume One, Edition Forty-One, for Wednesday, September twenty-third. Today's special edition covers a single development: Virginia's first draft rules for its adult-use retail cannabis market. The Virginia Cannabis Control Authority has released an eighty-two page draft of the regulations that will govern retail marijuana sales in the state, covering license types and caps, fees, delivery, purchase limits and store siting. Jake Shuford, the authority's legislative and regulatory manager, said these are not final by any means. The authority plans to finalize the rules in December, open applications by February first, twenty twenty-seven, and launch retail sales on July first. Now the fee schedule as reported. Retail stores, capped at three hundred fifty statewide: a four-thousand-dollar application fee, twenty thousand dollars for the initial authorization, and fifteen thousand a year to renew — per store. Microbusinesses, capped at one hundred: one thousand to apply, twenty-five hundred for authorization, six thousand to renew. Cultivation runs five tiers by canopy size, from three thousand to seventy-five hundred to apply, twenty to fifty thousand for the first year, and fifteen to forty-five thousand to renew, with only five of the largest-tier licenses initially available. Medical processors entering the adult-use market would pay a ten-million-dollar dual-use fee. Impact applicants may request reduced or waived fees. Operating rules in the draft: home delivery is authorized, drive-thru and curbside pickup are prohibited, purchases are capped at two ounces of flower per transaction, and stores must sit at least one thousand feet from schools and hospitals. Licensees have eighteen months to become operational. Stakeholder input is open now, with preliminary feedback expected by late October. Full details and source links are in today's email. This update is for general information only — it is not legal advice.