On May 6, the FBI executed federal search warrants at the offices and cannabis shop of Senate President Pro Tempore Louise Lucas (D-Portsmouth) — the #2 Democrat in the Virginia Senate and co-architect of the redistricting scheme the Virginia Supreme Court just voided.

A 2022 Virginia Mercury investigation found 65 of 66 products at her store were mislabeled. Same-day federal raids hit a connected Norfolk CBD shop whose owner was indicted the next morning on three felony counts of wire fraud.

Governor Abigail Spanberger is sitting on a bill that would expand retail cannabis in Virginia. She has no comment. Lucas is acting like nothing is wrong.

FBI Raids Senate Pro Tem Louise Lucas’s Cannabis Shop — While Her Retail Marijuana Bill Sits on Spanberger’s Desk and 65 of 66 Products Tested Were Mislabeled

On Wednesday, May 6, the FBI executed federal search warrants at the Portsmouth offices of Senate President Pro Tempore Louise Lucas (D-18) and at The Cannabis Outlet, the cannabis-adjacent retail shop she opened in 2021. Lucas is the #2 Democrat in the Virginia Senate, chairs Senate Finance, and was a co-architect of the redistricting scheme the Virginia Supreme Court voided last Friday.

Before getting into the details, ask yourself a question: Does it bother you that the #2 Democrat in the Virginia Senate is embroiled in a federal corruption probe — and is acting like nothing is wrong?

Here is what the public record shows:

• The probe is not a Trump invention. Two sources familiar with the investigation told the Associated Press that the investigation into Democratic Sen. L. Louise Lucas was opened during Democratic former President Joe Biden’s administration. The “political witch hunt” defense Democrats are reaching for does not survive contact with that fact. WTOP
• 65 of 66 products tested at her store were mislabeled. A 2022 investigation by Virginia Mercury found lab testing found that 65 of the 66 products sold by Lucas’s store were mislabeled. Mislabeling cannabis products is not a paperwork problem. It means consumers — and law enforcement — cannot trust what is in the package. Wikipedia, Source
• Her business clearance specifically forbade what the store appears to have sold. Portsmouth’s 2021 business clearance for Lucas’s shop, traced back to her Senate office address, specified “no approval as medical marijuana program, recreational marijuana, processing or manufacturing of marijuana or hemp into CBD.” Union-Bulletin
• A second raid the same day produced a federal indictment the next morning. FBI agents simultaneously raided The CBD Shoppe in downtown Norfolk. The next day, owner Carlton Upton Jr. stood in federal court to face an indictment on three felony counts of wire fraud. Upton allegedly took more than $100,000 in pandemic-era business relief through loan applications containing false information. Union-Bulletin
• The two shops share a parent company. Pilot Online reporting confirms that both The Cannabis Outlet in Portsmouth and The CBD Shoppe in Norfolk have operated under the parent company of VA Freedom Life. Lucas registered VA Freedom Life. The Norfolk shop’s owner is now under federal indictment. That is not a coincidence to be brushed aside. Union-Bulletin

The conflict is staring you in the face.

Right now, sitting on Governor Abigail Spanberger’s desk, is legislation that would establish a retail market beginning next year. A retail marijuana market. Union-Bulletin

The senator who pushed that market into existence is the same senator who personally opened a cannabis shop the same year she co-sponsored the 2021 decriminalization law. The same senator who chairs the Senate’s most powerful committee. The same senator who is now under federal investigation in a probe that started under President Biden.

Lucas wrote the rules. Lucas opened the shop. Lucas’s allies just sent the governor a bill that would expand the very market her shop operates in. And the governor — who campaigned on being different — cannot find anything to say about any of it.

This is not arm’s-length policymaking. This is a sitting legislator writing the rules for an industry she stands to profit from, while the FBI carries evidence out the back door of her store. Is the drug trade really the business interest you want running the Virginia Senate?

Lucas’s own response to the raid was not a denial. It was a deflection: “Today’s actions by Federal agents are about far more than one state senator; they are about power and who is allowed to use it on behalf of the people.” Translation: I’m important, so the FBI must be acting in bad faith. CNN

The Democrat machine fell in line:

• House Speaker Don Scott (D-88) — Lucas’s Portsmouth colleague and co-architect of the redistricting effort — issued a statement asking “before anyone rushes to political conclusions” and questioned how Fox News got to the scene first. WTOP
• Attorney General Jay Jones (D) — Virginia’s chief law enforcement officer — asked for “restraint in judgment until the relevant facts are known.” Virginia Mercury
• Governor Abigail Spanberger (D) — declined to offer her take on the investigation Wednesday. Virginia Mercury

Spanberger has now gone silent twice in eight days: on the federal civil rights probe of Fairfax Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano, and on the FBI raid of the #2 Democrat in the Virginia Senate. Two corruption stories. Two no-comments. One bill on her desk that would expand the cannabis market her colleague personally profits from. One Democrat trifecta.

The Fairfax connection is direct. Lucas worked hand-in-glove with Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell (D-34, southeastern Fairfax) on the redistricting scheme. Surovell drove the bill through the Senate. Lucas was the Senate’s institutional muscle behind it. The same week the Virginia Supreme Court ruled their referendum unconstitutional, the FBI showed up at Lucas’s door for an investigation that started under a Democrat president.

Lucas is up for reelection in November 2027. Surovell is up the same year. So is every Fairfax County Board of Supervisors seat, every School Board seat, every House of Delegates seat, and every State Senate seat.

Watch which Fairfax Democrats keep defending Lucas as the federal evidence piles up. Then remember their names.