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.
That’s going to make for excellent attack ads.
Except he can’t run for re-election. Virginia governors only get one term.
Still likely burned his party.
Spanberger for Governor!
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.
Let’s not forget his swing and miss at the capitals arena move into Alexandria.
He acted like he did a big thing for everyone, but most of the residents didn’t want it and DC just clowned him by offering a better deal.
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.
While he should have said it better, he’s 100% correct.
Yeah absolutely. I get his point. He could have said something like, “I’m sure someone out there is going to be upset that schools don’t teach that 1+1=11. Kids should leave school with the skills to be adults in the working world and that’s where I stand. For parents who don’t want secular curriculum taught to their kids, homeschooling is a great option. I’m against indoctrinating kids in any way in public schools and for teaching them.”
Bam, that easy.
Some people would have spun it anyway, but headlines wouldn’t have said “MCAULIFFE WANTS PARENTS OUT OF THE PICTURE IN SCHOOLS. ANTICHRIST INDOCTRINATION INCOMING!!”
Fuck Trumpkin.
What a cunt. Virginia really needs to split in two. The top 20% of the state geographically makes up the majority of its people and wealth. The rest is rednecks and dumb shits who get retards like this elected.
A LOT of republicans live in NoVA. All that sweet government and DoD money they want to keep flowing.
What are you smoking and why isn’t it legal in Virginia?
State marijuana legislation has nothing to do with the flow of FedGov money into NoVa. The area owes its wealth to two factors:- Proximity to DC, including areas which used to be part of DC. With easy access to the Federal Government, both businesses and organizations want to be there.
- It’s not Maryland. Because who the hell wants to be in Maryland? Kidding aside, Virginia has lower taxes and is usually considered more business friendly than Maryland.
Also, both DC and Maryland already have legalized marijuana and neither of them have been cut off from the FedGov money train.
Lastly, “Republicans in NoVa”? I’m sure there are dozens, but if you start driving West on I-66, you’re going to reach the border of West Virginia before you hit a major enclave of Republicans.
This is a wild take.
Northern Virginia and Central MD are full of Republicans and Conservative Democrats.
Maryland, and especially its DC suburbs (analogues to NoVA) are time and again ranked as top places in the USA to live.
The person you’re responding to didn’t say half of what you’re arguing.
I-66 doesn’t go to West Virginia but to your point I’d say when you hit route 17 you’re 100% out of the NOVA blue zone until you hit Winchester again, but that’s just typical city demographics at play there.
You’re full of shit lol.
Virginia really needs to split in two again
Remember: WV quit and went back to the union. “Nope actually we’re northern”
Northern Virginia probably has more republicans than the rest of the state. The cities have the dems. Richmond, Hampton roads, college towns etc
Northern Virginia is basically one large urban sprawl.
It would only have more republicans by population density allowing it, but it still leans democrat.
Incorrect. Graph of size of victory, see that it’s more red in the north.
Yeah looks more split east to west than north to south.
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.
