Where To Buy Weed In Northern Virginia
Legal cannabis in the state of Virginia has a troubled and rocky past. Despite failed state-level attempts at legalization and decriminalization all the way back in 2015, Old Dominion still made history as the first Southern state in the union to legalize cannabis for recreational use in early 2021. That legislation, signed and approved by both chambers of the Virginia General Assembly in February, meant that possession and adult-use of cannabis products was perfectly legal as of July 1. And frankly, it was about time! Even if you put aside that fact that experts predicted the Commonwealth to make as much as $300 million just from recreational cannabis sales taxes alone after legalization, without counting in the estimated $50 million in profits that medical marijuana makes them, legalization and decriminalization is clearly the correct choice.
Since then, however, that forward progress in the right direction when it comes to marijuana law has stalled out and, depending on who you ask, might even be moving in the wrong direction. That leaves many, especially those in Northern Virginia cities and towns like Arlington, Fairfax, Alexandria, Falls Church, Vienna, Manassas, Richmond, and Tysons that are only a stone’s throw away from D.C., wondering where the best place to get some cannabis of their own is exactly.
Buying Recreational and Medical Weed In Virginia
Right now, the only two options you have for getting any type of legal weed in the Commonwealth of Virginia is to either be gifted it as part of another purchase by a generous home grower via their “adult sharing” program, or to be enrolled in their medical marijuana program as a card-carrying patient.
First, as we mentioned above, they can grow it themselves. Virginia citizens over the age of 21 are legally permitted to home grow and consume their own cannabis from up to four marijuana plants per household, but aren’t allowed to sell the cannabis they grow. Just like in D.C., recreational sales aren’t permitted, but you can instead utilize the I-71 gifting policy to get your hands on some recreational weed. In other words, you can’t buy the cannabis itself; it needs to be gifted to you as part of another separate transaction.
If you’re looking to buy medical marijuana from a medical cannabis dispensary, you have a few hurdles that you need to get over to do so. Firstly, you’ll need to actually find a medical dispensary in the state. The state’s Board of Pharmacy has only approved a handful of medical marijuana dispensaries to open so far. Simply put, you don’t have a whole lot of options for where to pick up any medical marijuana products. And that’s IF your application to be a medical cannabis patient even gets accepted by the state, which typically takes well over 6+ months and requires a certified cannabis doctor’s sign-off. Another factor to consider is the sky-high costs of medical cannabis in Virginia. It’s not uncommon for medical patients to be forced to pay as much as $100 for 3.5 grams of medical marijuana. If that patient had gone over the border to D.C. and bought that same amount of cannabis, it would have cost them closer to $65 for the same amount.
Simply put, if you’ve gotten recreational weed in D.C. before, like from us here at Gifted Curators, you know how this process works. The only difference is that, unlike in D.C., there’s no shops or recreational dispensaries in Northern Virginia. You’ll have an easier time getting the cannabis products you’re looking for in D.C. rather than in Virginia, even if you have a valid Virginia medical cannabis card of your own! The bottom line is that it’s easier, cheaper, and quicker to just head over the border and pick up whatever you need. Its a quick 10 minute drive into the city in one of the safest and most popular areas with parking, Adams Morgan. Stop by and pick up your recreational gifted cannabis.
Is Marijuana Legal in Virginia?
While cannabis is, by the letter of the law, perfectly both recreational and medically legalized as well as decriminalized, you still can’t actually purchase legal cannabis from anywhere other than a medical dispensary in the Commonwealth without breaking the law. Obviously, this is confusing more many just looking to enjoy some cannabis without breaking the law.
While despite the passage of the legalization bill, recreational sales aren’t set to happen until 2024.
Until state lawmakers establish a legal framework and opens up some dispensaries for the recreational cannabis program, however, those looking to enjoy recreational cannabis only have two real options for now to obtain cannabis legally.
If you’re looking for a more detailed breakdown of the cannabis laws in the commonwealth, what you can and can’t do yet when it comes to recreational cannabis, and the precise language behind the personal cultivation guidelines, we want to provide you with some handy FAQ resources.
The first one is from Virginia’s NORML chapter and the second is from the Commonwealth government themselves!
How Much Weed Can You Have In Virginia?
As mentioned above, recreational cannabis is both fully legal and decriminalized in Virginia, which means the consequences for getting caught with some is minimal. As long as you’re holding less than 1 ounce of marijuana, you have nothing to worry about. If you’re holding more than an ounce, you’ll be forced to pay a minor $25 fine and will likely get that cannabis confiscated by law enforcement in the process. The laws are even lax when it comes to home growing, with no actual penalty on the books if you’re growing and cultivating more than 4 plants at a time. As long as the plants are out of sight, you keep a tag on the plant that with your name, drivers license number, and notification that the plant is being grown for personal use, and you’ve taken steps to secure the plants from anyone under the age of 21, you’re legally in golden.
Where you can get into serious legal trouble, however, is if you get caught trying to buy or sell cannabis.
If the state deems that you have the intent to distribute more than an ounce of cannabis for profit instead of via the state’s legal “adult sharing” rule, you’re going to be slapped with a Class 5 felony and up to ten years in jail, along with a hefty fine. If you happen to have higher amounts of cannabis, you’ll face even stiffer penalties.
Simply put, you’d be better off coming to Gifted Curators cannabis dispensaries in the heart of D.C. and just picking up some top-notch cannabis products from us instead. There’s less hassle, less possibility of legal trouble, and it will take way less effort than it would if you’re looking for somewhere to get weed in Northern Virginia without a medical marijuana card of your own.
What are the benefits of buying weed in Northern Virginia?
To put it bluntly, there really aren’t any. As we laid out earlier in this article, the recreational cannabis laws in Virginia are overly complicated and annoying for consumers, the prices and process of getting medical marijuana are unnecessarily high and cumbersome, and D.C. just has more dispensary options to choose from. Whether you’re on the hunt for CBD, edibles, or the typical THC-laden recreational marijuana everyone knows and loves, you’re going to get it in higher qualities and for better prices at dispensaries in D.C.
