It’s a weird time to be in the cannabis business, said Brad Wynne.
The founder and CEO of Veg Out Organics, a Virginia Beach skincare company and hemp growing operation, said the industry is in a state of flux. The federal government is set to ban the sale of hemp products with THC — the chemical compound that gets people high — nationwide by closing a loophole in the 2018 farm bill beginning next November.
At the same time, after Virginia Democrats secured a resounding win in state elections, the party is poised to pass a law creating a legal cannabis market in the state for the first time.
However, some Hampton Roads cannabis business owners say they could still end up losing out and are concerned about their industry.
“There’s a lot of ‘what-ifs,’ ” Wynne said. “There’s a lot of ‘If-thens.’ ”
A loophole in the 2018 farm bill, which legalized hemp cultivation, led to the current federal conundrum. The way the law was originally written, hemp was defined as crops grown with less than 0.3% delta-9 THC.
However, loophole exploiters have used chemical processes to extract CBD from the plants and change it into products with mind-altering effects, such as vape oils, gummy candies and cookies. Some beverages and snacks can also meet the 0.3% limit and still cause impairment. Those products have proliferated at tobacco stores and gas stations across the country.
“As I like to say, the politicians thought they were getting rope and ended up getting dope,” Wynne said.
U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., inserted a federal hemp-derived THC ban into the bill that reopened the government. It will go into effect in about a year.
Virginia has taken its own steps to crack down on the proliferation of THC products. Lawmakers passed legislation in 2023 to limit the amount of hemp-derived THC in each product to 2 milligrams or less, after the proliferation of delta-8 and delta-10 THC exploited another farm bill loophole. The state has conducted inspections and fined shops selling noncompliant products.
Stephen Smith has operated the East Tide CBD retail shop in Ocean View for more than four years. If the ban is enacted, Smith said he would have to stop selling several of his products.
“I’ll lose some of my business,” Smith said.
Wynne believes his business would be able to adjust. Since all of Veg Out’s products are made on a yearly timetable, he said it would be fairly easy to switch to broad spectrum CBD, which would comply with the federal changes.
Tanner Johnson is CEO of Pure Shenandoah, a Harrisonburg THC and CBD beverage company that sells products such as gummies and oils at several Hampton Roads stores.
If the ban went into effect, Johnson said the company could still sell THC-free CBD products but would have to pull those with THC.
Johnson said Virginia is in a unique position among states facing a hemp THC ban, because Democrats are poised to enact and begin a legal cannabis market as soon as November. Cannabis has been decriminalized in the commonwealth since 2021, but retail sales have still been outlawed.
Johnson and Wynne are part of an industry group called the Virginia Cannabis Association, which has been involved in helping draft legislation to establish the market and set rules. Both are pushing for a change that would allow around 400 licensed hemp retailers to be grandfathered into the dispensary program.
But because Johnson said Virginia has over 1,400 licensed hemp retailers, hundreds of businesses still wouldn’t be allowed to participate. The failed 2025 retail legislation, which is being amended by lawmakers for the upcoming session, capped the number of dispensaries at 350.
The General Assembly will consider legislation to establish the legal market when it returns Jan. 14 to Richmond.
Trevor Metcalfe, 757-222-5345, trevor.metcalfe@pilotonline.com
https://www.pilotonline.com/2025/12/09/virginia-cannabis-businesses-law-changes/
