Virginia state Sen. Louise Lucas, a Democrat who has spent 34 years in the state senate and currently chairs the powerful Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee, has been hit with five federal charges tied to an alleged bribery, marijuana distribution, and money laundering scheme connected to her Portsmouth cannabis business.
Federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of Virginia say Lucas and six co-defendants ran an operation from roughly 2019 through 2026 that used her legal medical cannabis business, the Cannabis Outlet, as cover for distributing illegal marijuana. The six others charged are Lisa Lucas Burke, Prince Albert William Hudson III, Ryan Eichelberger, Theresa Lucas-Lamb, Carlton Upton Jr., and Tameka Johnson. Two of those co-defendants are her own daughters, which is a detail no press release can make less awkward.
The indictment accuses Lucas of using her political position to help the business and pursue marijuana licenses that could benefit herself and her associates, with family members and business partners allegedly helping obtain, manage, or sell marijuana while routing payments through various businesses. You can read the federal indictment against Lucas for the full rundown of what prosecutors are alleging.
Lucas is no small-time figure in Virginia politics. Born in Portsmouth in 1944, she has been a fixture in the state’s Democratic establishment for more than 40 years. She was first elected to Portsmouth City Council in 1984, became a state senator in 1992, and in December 2019 was elected president pro tempore of the Virginia Senate, making history as the first African American woman to hold that position. She opened the Cannabis Outlet in 2021, which apparently turned out to be a more eventful business venture than she anticipated.
After the indictment dropped, Lucas posted a statement on social media that managed to work in Jim Crow, great-grandmother status, and a rap lyric all in one go. “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 wrote. “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. I’m not new to this. I’m true to this. I will not be intimidated. I will not be bullied and I will not back down.”
Nothing says “completely innocent” like immediately invoking Jim Crow when federal prosecutors lay out a money laundering conspiracy involving your own daughters and a marijuana storefront you personally opened. But sure, it’s the government that has some explaining to do.
The case now heads toward federal court in the Eastern District of Virginia, where Lucas and her six co-defendants will each face their respective combination of charges. For a party that loves to lecture everyone else about law, order, and accountability, Democrats sure do keep producing these kinds of headlines. Stay tuned, because this one is just getting started.
Lock that granny up!
