Virginia decriminalized marijuana and is looking into further reform, joining the ranks of more than half of the states that now at least tolerate cannabis possession. Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam was one of the major proponents of the bipartisan legislation, which took effect on Wednesday, July 1.
Before, simple possession of marijuana was a crime punishable by up to a month in jail, loss of one’s driver’s license, a $500 fine and a criminal record. Under the new law, minor possession has become a civil violation carrying no potential jail time or permanent mark on one’s record. The maximum punishment for possessing up to one ounce is a $25 fine throughout the entire state, now, with subsequent offenses being a misdemeanor. This also includes possession of hashish oil, which was a felony punishable by up 10 years of incarceration previously.
The new law also makes it possible for employers and schools to see past cannabis offenses, thus cleaning off what used to be an indelible mark on the criminal records of hundreds of thousands of Virginians. It is now possible for people who were charged in the past for a cannabis offense to petition for the expungement of the records related to that charge. “The punishment must fit the crime. Not every offense deserves a life sentence. It’s time to temper justice with mercy,” Northam said in his State of the Commonwealth address earlier this year.
Selling and manufacturing marijuana products are still considered felonies, but the vast majority of drug-related offenses are simple possession. In 2019, 66,064 offenses were for possessing or using illicit substances, while only 10,534 offenses were for selling them. Marijuana was by far the leading drug in Virginia—as it tends to be everywhere in the U.S.—with nearly five times as many offenses involving marijuana than the second most common drug, methamphetamines. More than half of the drug offenses leading to an arrest in Virginia last year involved marijuana. That is now a thing of the past.
Considering Legalization
As the Virginia Legislature was initially discussing the decriminalization bill, it also passed one resolution to look into the full legalization and regulation of cannabis. The resolution “directs the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission to study and make recommendations for how Virginia should go about legalizing and regulating the growth, sale and possession of marijuana by July 1, 2022, and address the impacts of marijuana prohibition.”
There is no doubt that Virginia’s lawmakers are willing—and even preparing—to fully legalize cannabis in the foreseeable future. The initial resolution gives the state two years to enact the next step of the process, but the final version of the decriminalization bill goes one step further by shortening the timeline. It requires “the Secretaries of Agriculture and Forestry, Finance, Health and Human Resources and Public Safety and Homeland Security to convene a work group to study the impact on the Commonwealth of legalizing the sale and personal use of marijuana,” and to report their findings by November 30, 2020.
It would appear that full legalization in Virginia is not a matter of if, but when. A group of Democratic legislators announced plans to introduce a legalization bill as soon as possible in 2021, and the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus is trying to convince lawmakers to shorten the deadline even more.
“The Commonwealth is past the point for studies on policing and law enforcement—immediate action must be taken to eliminate law enforcement abuse, prevent and punish racist behaviors, weed out institutional discrimination and increase accountability,” the Virginia Black Caucus announced.
The legislators are calling for a number of measures related to the Black Lives Matter protests that have erupted across the nation, including police reform, COVID-19 relief and the full legalization of marijuana, in a special session this August. The Black Caucus is not the only voice calling for this; Sen. Adam Ebbin, who spearheaded decriminalization, is also calling for legalization in August as “an extension of [his] work.” If this comes to pass, the original deadline for legalization will have been shortened from two years down to two months.
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