Virginia’s legal recreational marijuana market is one year away, but for businesses already selling cannabis products, the transition is happening now.
“We had a dream that there would actually be a sustainable path forward for hemp businesses,” Sarah Vogl, owner of Bear Dance Hemp, said.
For nearly seven years, Vogl held onto that hope as the owner of Bear Dance Hemp.
But as Virginia moved closer to a legal recreational market, she says it became clear there wouldn’t be a sustainable path for her small business.
“We only recently closed down our retail shop in April,” Vogl said.
The state’s retail marijuana market is scheduled to open in July of next year, but the first changes arrive much sooner.
“We were already operating in a drastically limited product landscape with the 25-to-1 ratio,” she said.
Starting August 15th, that limit is going even further
Under the old rule, products could exceed two milligrams of THC if they contained 25 times as much CBD.
Now, that exception is going away.
“If you’re relying on cash flow, there’s going to be a whole year gap where you’re not allowed to sell anything. The two-milligram cap is going to come into place. So that basically gets rid of all potential revenue for hemp businesses,” Vogl said.
At the Buffalo Hemp Company, owner Derek Wall says they’re facing the same upcoming changes.
“Our current operations they’re kind of in question because they’re basically shutting down a lot of the products that we sell currently,” Wall said.
But he says they’ve been preparing for what comes next in Virginia’s cannabis market.
“We’ve bought a facility and equipment to have a cannabis grow operation be built,” Wall said.
Wall tells us the new market will help lessen the stigma surrounding cannabis usage.
“I do think it’s an opportunity for the whole United States and the world to open up and get the stigma away,” he said.
The cannabis control authority is tasked with developing the regulatory framework for the sale and legal retail market.