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Gov. Ralph Northam holds up a bill legalizing recreational marijuana after signing it. (Photo: Alan Rodriguez Espinoza/VPM News)
Virginia became the first Southern state to legalize recreational marijuana on Wednesday. Gov. Ralph Northam held a bill signing ceremony, but one key advocacy group says they were left out of the event.
Chelsea Higgs Wise is the executive director of Marijuana Justice. She says her organization’s efforts were critical in passing marijuana legalization. Since 2019, the group has been central to creating coalitions of local nonprofits to advocate for a focus on social equity in marijuana reform.
Wise says Marijuana Justice was also key in encouraging lawmakers to shift the legalization date from 2024 to 2021. She says her coalition brought legislators’ attention to the fact that marijuana possession penalties continued to be enforced disproportionately against Black Virginians after it was decriminalized.
Civil rights groups skip ceremonial signing of marijuana bill, as Black-led activist group left out
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By NED OLIVER, Copyright 2021, Virginia Mercury Virginians could be harvesting their first legal crops of home-grown marijuana later this year under legislative amendments Gov. Ralph Northam says he’s sending to the General Assembly. Northam said Wednesday he is proposing changes to the marijuana legalization bill passed by the General Assembly last month that would end the state’s prohibition on the drug beginning July 1 up from a 2024 date proposed by lawmakers. He says he also wants to allow limited home cultivation to begin at the same time. “Virginia will become the 15th state to legalize marijuana and these changes will ensure we do it with a focus on public safety, public health and social justice,” he said in a statement.
Marijuana justice advocate on legalization: We are finally being heard
Advocates, like Chelsea Higgs Wise, Director of Virginia Marijuana Justice, said lawmakers were sending the wrong message by approving legalization but continuing enforcement of marijuana laws for several years. âBlack Virginians are continuing to be penalized at four times the rate as white Virginians,â she said.
and last updated 2021-03-31 21:33:04-04
RICHMOND, Va. Although some Virginians might disagree with the Commonwealth becoming the first Southern state to legalize recreational use of cannabis, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam said a majority back it and called his move to speed up the timeline in doing so a matter of equity.
Law enforcement concerned about early marijuana legalization: Weâre not going to be ready
Hopewell Police Chief Kamran Afzal said pushing up the legalization date would make it difficult for his offers to adjust to the change in state law. Afzal, who worked as a police chief in Colorado a few years ago, told CBS 6 that Virginia should have seen how the effect of decriminalization plays out before taking the next step.
and last updated 2021-03-31 21:39:21-04
RICHMOND, Va. Although some Virginians might disagree with the Commonwealth becoming the first Southern state to legalize recreational use of cannabis, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam said a majority back it and called his move to speed up the timeline in doing so a matter of equity.
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