As Virginia Legalizes Marijuana, Advocates Push for More
Advocates argue that while legalization for recreational use is a step in the right direction, lawmakers must focus more on the criminal justice effects of laws that will undoubtedly target minorities, homeless, and the poor.
Landwebs
While marijuana is now legal for adults 21 and older to possess, consume and grow in Virginia, and lawmakers have set a 2024 target to begin retail sales to recreational users, some legalization advocates are hoping the General Assembly will agree to speed up that time frame, which was deemed necessary to establish the Virginia Cannabis Control Authority to monitor the new market, reports the Virginia Mercury. The medical dispensaries had lobbied to be allowed to begin selling to recreational customers beginning this year, but lawmakers resisted, worrying it would give the companies an unfair head start in a market where they hope to encourage minority-owned and small businesses. Other advocates say the General Assembly’s immediate focus should be on the criminal justice side of the law in light of statistics showing Black people were three times more likely to be charged with possession than White people.
Chelsea Higgs Wise, who founded Marijuana Justice, which led a coalition of criminal justice reform groups that worked on the law, pointed out that solving certain oversights, such as the not to include a resentencing provision for people currently incarcerated on marijuana charges, a category that likely includes hundreds of people, should supersede getting the retail market off the ground. While lawmakers passed expungement provisions for past charges, they said they ran out of time to include language addressing resentencing. In addition, lawmakers should also prioritize eliminating criminal penalties for youth caught with the drug as well as open container laws that make it illegal to have the drug in the passenger area of a vehicle even if it’s not being used — two laws that could continue to be disproportionately enforced against Black Virginians.
