Virginia Governor Ralph Northam this Wednesday signed into law a measure that legalizes the cultivation and possession of marijuana in the commonwealth . (Did Northam make up for not holding the signing on 4/20 by calling the event a “joint” press conference? You decide.)

Earlier this month, Virginia became the first Southern state to legalize recreational weed, after Northam asked the General Assembly to speed up the timeline for the law’s implementation. Adults 21 and older will be able to possess and cultivate small amounts of weed by July 1 of this year, rather than in 2024, when the legalization bill was initially slated to go into effect.

Here’s what you need to know about Virginia’s legalization measure.

Wait, I thought weed was going to be legalized in 2024. What happened?

Back in late February, the Virginia General Assembly passed legislation that would make it legal to possess weed, ending criminal penalties for simple possession and expunging some cannabis-related offenses from criminal records. The measure also includes a preference for for marijuana business licenses for people and communities impacted by enforcement of prohibition, defined as Virginians who have a marijuana-related conviction, have a family members with a conviction, or live in an economically distressed area. The bill was slated to take effect in 2024.

But after the measure passed, Northam called on state lawmakers to move up implementation of part of the bill — the part that legalizes possession of small amounts of weed — by three years. His amendments also included speeding up the expungement process and simplifying the criteria for sealing criminal records, as well as boosting protections for cannabis industry workers.

The governor said that racial equity was at the core of his proposed changes. A report commissioned by the commonwealth found that the average arrest rate of Black people for marijuana possession was 3.5 times higher than white people, and conviction rates were even more disparate.

Virginia lawmakers decriminalized marijuana for personal use in January 2020, replacing a penalty of potential jail time and a $500 fine with a $25 fine — ostensibly, this was a move towards dealing with racial inequities in drug arrests. However, a Virginia Public Media investigation found that, despite decriminalization, Black people in Virginia were four times more likely to face a summons over weed possession than white people, even though they use the drug at similar rates.

Northam said the lack of change in those rates motivated his push to speed up the legalization of possession.

However, criminal justice reform groups have expressed concerns that some elements of this law, like the ban on public consumption and the open container provision, could also be enforced disparately.

So exactly how much weed can I legally possess under this law?

You can possess up to 1 ounce of weed legally if you are over the age of 21, as long as you’re not trying to sell it to other people. (Prison penalties are still in place for possession of large amounts of marijuana.) You can, however, give away or share up to 1 ounce with others (more on that below).

Adults can also grow up to four plants per household for personal use. Having more than four plants leads to penalties ranging from a fine for a number slightly above the limit to felony charges for more than 50 plants. Some ambiguity remains about what happens if your four legal plants produce more than 1 ounce of marijuana, as the Virginia Mercury notes.

If you are under 21, you are not legally allowed to possess weed. If you are caught with it, there’s a $25 fine and a requirement to enter a substance abuse treatment and education program.

Can I use cannabis on the street, in bars, or in other public places?

Nope. It’s still illegal to use the drug publicly, and the law does not establish any Amsterdam-style weed lounges or anything like that.

The law also bans driving with an “open container” of cannabis, just like policy currently on the books regarding alcohol. But there’s a bit of confusion about what, precisely, constitutes an open container of weed, especially because people can’t purchase manufactured, regulated products.

Will we start seeing weed dispensaries and the like in Virginia?

Not right away. The General Assembly still has a lot of work to do to hammer out the details of the regulatory framework, so don’t expect any ribbon cuttings this July.

Virginia currently has four medical dispensaries that are open for patients who are registered for medical use, but those cannot begin selling to all adults under the new law.

To determine the nuts and bolts of a legal marketplace for recreational marijuana, the bill creates what’s called the Virginia Cannabis Control Authority, which will regulate its cultivation, production, and sale.

Sounds a lot like D.C. Am I getting that right?

There are definitely a lot of similarities. While some of the amounts that you can possess differ, both emphasize the “home grow, home use” model for now.

For D.C., that’s a matter of necessity: Congress has blocked the District from using its locally-raised funds to come up with a regulatory scheme for dispensaries and the like. (Local officials are hopeful this will change with Democrats in control of both chambers on Capitol Hill.) Virginia isn’t blocked by the federal government, but the General Assembly hasn’t figured out its regulatory scheme, which is why the legal sale of marijuana still isn’t set to happen until at least 2024.

One fascinating element is that the commonwealth seemingly learned something from D.C.’s experience with this model: purveyors employing a so-called “gifting loophole,” whereby they sell wares like t-shirts or art and then give buyers a “gift” of weed. This technically remains a legal gray area in D.C. (though police periodically crack down on “gifting” events), but Virginia explicitly bars the practice in its legislation.