If you’ve been wondering why cannabis is legal to possess in Virginia, but there’s still no clear, safe place to buy it without a medical card, you’re not alone. And the answer is more complicated (and more frustrating) than it should be.
For years, hemp businesses in Virginia have been stuck in a strange sort of limbo where we are expected to follow the rules, invest in compliance and educate our communities. At the same time, the state itself has struggled to consistently enforce the very laws it passed and continues to delay any meaningful path to recreational adult-use sales.
The end result is an uneven playing field that punishes businesses trying to do things the right way and rewards those who ignore the rules entirely.
Before getting into the details, there’s something important to clarify: “Hemp” and “cannabis” are legally treated as separate things, but in reality, they come from the same plant. The distinction mostly comes down to technical definitions around THC levels. That’s a big part of what’s created so much confusion and division — and why the system we have today doesn’t really make sense.
How did we get here? (A timeline)
2018: The Farm Bill opens the door — and the loopholes
The 2018 Farm Bill (Agriculture Improvement Act) legalized hemp (defined as anything under 0.3% D9 THC) nationwide and created the modern hemp market. It also created a widely discussed regulatory gray area; a space where innovation could flourish, but so could loopholes.
Over the next few years, that space kept getting pushed, stretched and exploited; a space many of us relied on to build and grow our businesses.
2021: Virginia legalizes possession without a plan
Virginia legalized possession of marijuana (HB 2312/SB 1406) but never established a functioning framework for recreational sales. Consumers can legally carry cannabis, but there is no accessible adult-use retail market.
That vacuum is filled by: gas stations, smoke shops, vape shops, informal and loosely regulated markets (ex: “share shops”), and overpriced dispensaries — not compliant, Virginia-owned hemp businesses.
A local sheriff said it well: you can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube.
2023: The state cracks down… on paper
Virginia passed SB 903, introducing a 25:1 THC-to-CBD ratio limit and requiring permits.
In theory, this established clarity and safety. We thought the permit requirement would give us an advantage. And the (albeit arbitrary) 25:1 ratio allowed us to keep selling full-spectrum products and edibles.
In reality, it created confusion without enforcement. State enforcement has been inconsistent; Representatives cite limited resources.
They essentially rolled out inconsistent enforcement with unclear timelines, leaving compliant businesses without a stable foundation to build upon.
The impact on compliant small businesses
Businesses that followed the rules reformulated products, lost revenue, re-educated customers and took financial hits. Meanwhile, non-compliant sellers continued to operate, gas stations sold unregulated products and online out-of-state sellers filled the gaps.
We followed the rules. They didn’t. Nothing happened.
Enforcement responsibility has been unclear, with overlapping roles between VDACS (Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services) and local law enforcement.
So enforcement targets compliant businesses, while others operate freely.
2024–2025: Enforcement finally hits (selectively)
Now, enforcement has increased in some areas, particularly around THCA products.
This has removed key revenue streams from compliant businesses, driven customers elsewhere and continued to ignore illegal operators.
We’re following rules most of the market ignores.
Where does that leave us? (The big truth)
Honestly? Hemp never had a fair shot.
We’ve been asked to comply with unclear regulations, constantly change products, compete with illegal sellers and adapt endlessly.
Virginia didn’t just fail to regulate hemp. It created an environment where compliant hemp businesses cannot survive. Our sales trends since 2019 tell a very clear story.
We didn’t just lose hope — Virginia regulations took it from us.
What comes next (the reality)
Since I originally began writing this, things have become clearer — and more urgent.
The hemp industry in Virginia, as we know it, is already over — especially from the perspective of retail storefront owners. There is no reality in which minor changes or amendments bring it back. Existing regulations have already done the damage.
Our own business — one built around safety, accessibility, affordability and serving our community — will be forced to close if we do not secure a recreational license this year. That’s not a hypothetical. The current market has already made that decision for us. We’ve spent seven years building something meaningful, a space where face-to-face conversations are everything, and now we’re taking a final gamble to try to reach the finish line.
Now the conversation has shifted toward whether the current recreational bill (HB 642/SB 542), which currently sits on the governor’s desk, should be amended or delayed. This bill is not perfect, but it gets a lot of things right.
However, several lobbying groups are encouraging folks to tell the governor to amend the bill instead of signing it as-is, due to the nixing of the 25:1 ratio, capping the THC per package at 2 mg across products. These definitions eliminate full-spectrum CBD products and would shift many currently legal hemp-derived products into the regulated recreational cannabis market.
And I want to be very clear about something, because I understand where the pushback is coming from:
Losing the 25:1 ratio is a big deal. It hurts. It’s not helpful. It limits what hemp businesses can offer, and it removes products that people rely on. I’m not dismissing that.
But we can’t ignore the big picture. Holding up the entire recreational bill over this issue is short-sighted.
Because at this point, we are not choosing between a “better bill” and a “worse bill.” We are choosing between moving forward or staying stuck in the same broken system that already gutted this industry.
While we’re here, let’s revisit what’s been underlying this entire situation: The distinction between “hemp” and “cannabis” is predominantly artificial. It’s a line drawn by regulators, not by the plant itself. What we’re dealing with right now isn’t a natural separation of industries. It’s a system built on arbitrary definitions that change constantly, creating confusion for businesses and consumers alike. The entire point of a recreational market is to move past that — to create a unified, regulated system where people can access all cannabis products without navigating technical loopholes and shifting legal definitions.
Attempting to “fix” the bill that’s currently on the governor’s desk will not save hemp. It actually risks leaving us with nothing.
If this bill does not get signed as-is, it risks being delayed or failing to advance this session — and with it, any chance of a legal market next year.
And on top of all of this, there are federal changes already in motion that could also eliminate large portions of the hemp market as we know it. So this isn’t just a state-level issue anymore; the window for small hemp businesses to survive under the current model is closing from multiple directions at once.
That could mean no recreational market AND no viable hemp market. Just the same system that has already failed small businesses and ordinary people over and over again.
And we’ve seen this pattern before within the hemp industry: We get hung up on these details. We push for changes. Things get delayed. And small businesses are the ones who pay for it. Every single time. It’s frustrating to see the hemp industry divided over this again, especially when we’re all feeling the same pressure and loss.
Perfection is not what gets us out of this. Progress does.
At this point, passing a recreational framework is the only realistic path forward — not because it’s perfect, but because it creates a path toward overall affordability, accessibility and a regulated market that actually functions.
This moment matters. Because the decisions being made right now will determine whether anything replaces what was lost — or if this entire industry disappears completely to the benefit of multi-state corporations that are already positioned to take over.
Call to action
Even if you don’t personally use cannabis, this still affects you because it determines whether small, local businesses survive, or whether the market is handed over entirely to large, out-of-state corporations.
If you care about the future of cannabis in Virginia — even a little — this is the moment to speak up. Call Gov. Spanberger’s office and tell her to sign the recreational bill as it is. Not amended. Not delayed. Signed.
Call. Don’t email. It takes two minutes, and it matters more than you think.
Because if this doesn’t pass now, we won’t get a recreational market this year. Without it, there is no path forward for small hemp businesses like ours.
Sarah Vogl and Chris Reese are the co-owners of Bear Dance Hemp Company in Roanoke. Since 2019, they have operated a consumer-focused hemp retail business grounded in education, transparency and regulatory awareness. Through their work, they have witnessed firsthand the challenges facing compliant operators and the impact of inconsistent enforcement on both businesses and consumers.