"Let’s be clear: Virginia Democrats made a great big mess when they legalized marijuana without putting any regulatory or retail structure in place. We are left having to clean up their mess and we will not make it worse by rushing to fix it." (Source)

"'They just legalized it and walked away and said, "Oh, we’ll come back and do that later." Which is just an absurd way to go about making public policy,' Gilbert said. 'And here we are left with this mess.'

Gilbert said House Republicans will continue discussing the issue, but he said they’re wary of rushing forward with a poorly thought-out bill.

'The main thing for me is whether we’re going to spend a lot of time churning through this issue if we don’t know what the governor would intend to do with it,' the speaker said." (Source)

"Republican Speaker of the House Todd Gilbert said last month that his caucus would take its cues from Youngkin, who ultimately must sign off on any retail sales bill. Gilbert argued that Democrats left a 'mess' by legalizing the possession of marijuana in 2021 without finalizing legislation on retail sales.

'That, frankly, is not a place where everybody entirely feels comfortable with the status quo,' Gilbert told reporters. 'And that doesn't mean that they want to run headlong into having retail marijuana stores on every corner in Virginia.'" (Source)