Barren shelves are greeting customers at a local hemp shop in Virginia Beach.

“Right now the shop is super empty,” said Savana Griffith, owner of The Hemp Spectrum. “We have about five vendors left on our shelves.”

Griffith used to stock a wide range of items, including teas, salves, oils and edibles. But she said many of the products her store sells became illegal earlier this month when a new state law tightening regulations on the hemp industry took effect.

“We’re looking really hard for new compliant products to bring in,” she said, adding she also opened a distribution center in North Carolina. “We will see how our customers respond.”

The new regulations created stricter rules for labels and packaging, and required cannabis products to contain at least a 25-to-1 ratio of CBD, or cannabidiol, to THC (the component in cannabis that can produce a high). It also established civil penalties of up to $10,000 for each day a violation occurs.

The new law was intended to end the so-called wild west days of the state’s fledgling hemp industry. Some cannabis consumers, manufacturers and shop owners, however, argue it’s only creating confusion for everyone involved. Now, some say the state’s recently stalled budget negotiations are making matters worse.

“Most of this stuff is tied to the budget,” said Jason Blanchette, president of the Virginia Cannabis Association. “It’s kind of a mess, quite frankly.”

The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services was tasked with enforcing the new laws and assisting businesses with the transition. The legislation’s fiscal impact statement states the agency would subsequently need more staff, including a program manager, two registration analysts, three compliance officers and eight inspectors, as well as funds for laboratory testing.

Although the bill was already signed into law, the $2.2 million in funding needed to support the agency must be approved in the state’s budget plan. An additional $632,000 is also needed to fund five new positions in the Office of the Attorney General. Leaders of two legislative finance committees have been debating a series of budget amendments this year — but the talks were repeatedly delayed and recently stalled out due to disagreements over tax cuts.

Blanchette explained this makes it harder for those who are trying to comply with the new regulations.

“There are manufacturers who are well within the law and have provided everything VDACS needs for product approval to be able to sell wholesale to retailers, but VDACS has not approved any of them,” he said, adding the agency appears to be overburdened without the additional support.

Barbara Biddle, owner of District Hemp Botanicals in Leesburg, said she’s among those trying to keep up with the changing hemp landscape. She said she already removed a good number of products but still has additional questions.

“We outsource some of our products from out of state and every state has different regulations as it pertains to labels, production and certifications,” she said.

She reached out to VDACS for guidance but said it appears the agency is dealing with a learning curve as well.

“The holdup with the budget has made things more confusing,” she said. “They are trying to be as helpful as possible, as nice as possible, but it hasn’t been easy.”

Mike Wallace, a spokesperson for VDACS, said Friday the agency has no comment on the budget negotiations. But he said the department has a web page with information about the new legislation and has also distributed a memo to over 14,500 establishments involved with edible hemp products.

“Since that time, VDACS staff have and continue to respond to electronic and verbal inquiries regarding the new legislation,” he wrote in an email.

Not all business owners feel as demoralized by the new regulations. Rita Woods, owner of Hemp House Wellness in Virginia Beach, said the new rules forced her to think outside the box and pushed her to expand her business by opening a mobile shop outside of state lines in North Carolina.

“This industry is not for the weak of heart; you have to be able to pivot on a dime,” she said. “There is no point in being upset. You just have to innovate and that’s what being an entrepreneur is all about.”

Biddle said she is not opposed to new regulations but wishes legislators had spoken with more business owners — and consumers.

“It just seems like this was slapped together without much thought,” she said. “We’ve had customers call us crying. There are certainly people who rely on these products and they are just left unsure about what will happen or how we will continue to serve them.”

Allyson MacLeod is among those who are alarmed.

The 25-year-old Virginia Beach resident said she has complex regional pain syndrome, a chronic nerve disease that causes the body to feel an extreme burning sensation.

MacLeod said she spent years in intense constant pain as doctors struggled to find a solution. It was ultimately cannabis products with THC, she said, that made the pain manageable.

“It was like my body could relax for the first time in years,” said MacLeod, who shops at various cannabis stores across Hampton Roads, including The Hemp Spectrum.

MacLeod has a medical cannabis card and doesn’t expect to lose access to the products that help her. But she said any signs of a crackdown on cannabis leave her scared. Her doctors didn’t allow her to try cannabis products for years, which she believes was due to the stigma around it.

“It took a long time for that stigma to start going away and now it feels like its coming back,” she said. “It’s making me nervous to think about what the years to come are going to bring.”

Until this year, Virginia had appeared poised to welcome the cannabis industry.

Hemp and cannabis-related businesses proliferated across the state after a federal bill in 2018 legalized the regulated production of hemp and the state decriminalized the possession of small amounts of marijuana in 2020.

But the situation took a turn in 2023, with the General Assembly seeking stricter regulations. During a Virginia Cannabis Public Health Advisory Council meeting last week, Joseph Guthrie, commissioner of VDACS, stated that Gov. Glenn Youngkin has no plans to legalize the sale of adult use marijuana.

“I wouldn’t expect that during his administration,” he said, according to The Daily Progress.

Katie King, katie.king@virginiamedia.com