In an explosive indictment handed down by the Department of Justice, Virginia Senate President Pro Tempore L. Louise Lucas (D) was charged Thursday with leading a scheme to procure and sell vast amounts of illicit marijuana and laundering the money under the umbrella of her legal medical cannabis dispensary. The news came as the Old Dominion is set to implement recreational retail sales of the psychoactive drug in 2027, which has been linked to a profusion of adverse health effects.

Lucas, 82, has been serving in Virginia’s state Senate for over 30 years and has held the position of Senate President pro tempore since 2020. She is considered one of the most powerful lawmakers in the state, serving as chair of the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee. Notably, she sponsored a marijuana legalization bill in 2021 and has also supported other cannabis decriminalization measures.

As described by CBS News, Lucas has been charged with leading a scheme that “used her political influence in Virginia to enact legislation and regulations to financially benefit herself and co-defendants, as well as insulate the alleged criminal enterprise she was running from state law enforcement.” Six other co-defendants where also charged, including two of Lucas’s daughters and a grandson.

The 45-page indictment detailed how Lucas used a medical marijuana shop called The Cannabis Outlet in Portsmouth, Va. she co-owned as a front for a sprawling illegal marijuana distribution operation, which involved the buying and selling of over 220 pounds of illicit cannabis. During a press conference announcing the charges, U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche noted that Lucas engaged in a “large-scale RICO drug trafficking and money laundering conspiracy” that resulted in the accumulation of almost $5 million.

The investigation, which sources say began during the Biden administration, detailed how Lucas told an unindicted co-conspirator that the operation was her “last chance” to create “generational wealth” for her family. She further admitted to a Virginia state lawmaker that what she was doing was “obviously illegal,” and that she needed the recreational marijuana industry to get established so that she could acquire a future recreational marijuana license. In April, Virginia’s General Assembly passed a bill that will allow for the retail sale of recreational cannabis starting on July 1, 2027.

In a public statement regarding the indictment, Lucas notably did not directly dispute the charges. “Today, the FBI, the Department of Justice, and the full weight of the federal government have been wielded against an 82-year-old great-grandmother,” she remarked. “I grew up under Jim Crow. I’ve seen what happens when people in power try to silence those who stand up to them. I spent my life fighting back, and I’m not stopping now.”

The indictment comes at a crossroads for the burgeoning marijuana industry, which has steadily gained a legal foothold in the U.S. over the last two decades. As more and more states have legalized its use both medically and recreationally, and as the drug has now overtaken cigarettes and alcohol in daily use, studies continue to come out detailing the disastrous health effects of the drug, which has become three to seven times more potent since 1995. Just in the last three years, multiple studies have shown how the drug doubles the chances of future psychotic disorders, is associated with a twofold risk of serious cardiac problems, raises the risk of heart failure by 34%, has caused the rate of cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome to surge, doubles the rate of having suicidal thoughts, and is associated with shorter life expectancy, bronchitis, emphysema, memory loss, and deficiencies in decision-making and verbal learning skills.

As a result of the increasingly visible public health crisis being caused by marijuana, states like Massachusetts are now considering backtracking on the legalization of recreational use, with a ballot measure set for November 3 that would repeal the recreational use law that has been in place for a decade. The law has reportedly been linked to “fatal car accidents, mental illness, workplace injuries and state expenses because of healthcare costs and productivity losses.”

Meanwhile, the charges against Lucas may be the starkest evidence yet of the problems that arise when states attempt to legitimize the sale of narcotics. Experts like Stephen Kronberg of the Coalition for a Healthy Massachusetts say that his state has not seen a decrease in societal ills after marijuana was legalized, which cannabis activists often claim would occur. “The illicit market never went away,” he told The Washington Times. “Ten years of legal sales never ended it. Commercialization just added a store in every town, so if you take away the stores, consumption’s going to naturally go down.”

Kevin Sabet, who serves as president of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, concurred. “The underground market is thriving. Also, the stuff that you’re getting at these pot shops, they’re not tested well at all. … These shops have huge issues with mold, pesticides, bacteria.”