Virginia s Marijuana Law: What s Legal And What s Not On July 1 patch.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from patch.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The Virginia General Assembly approved legislation Wednesday that will make marijuana legal on July 1.
The votes make Virginia the 16th state to legalize the drug and the first in the South to take the step, though retail sales won’t begin until Jan. 1, 2024.
“The time has come for our state to legalize marijuana,” said House Majority Charniele Herring, D-Alexandria, who sponsored the bill, arguing the revised legislation ensures “that while we’re doing the complicated work of standing up a commercial market, we aren’t delaying immediate reforms that will make our commonwealth more equitable for all Virginians.”
The product of months of negotiation and last-minute amendments, the final legislation is complex and, in some key areas, ambiguous about what will and won’t be allowed.
Assembly votes to legalize marijuana in Virginia
Adopted just before the General Assembly adjourned Saturday, the legislation delays key decisions about how the Virginiaâs marijuana marketplace will operate until next year. Gov. Northam is grateful to the General Assembly for their hard work, and looks forward to continuing to improve this legislation. Alena Yarmosky, governorâs spokeswoman
By Ned Oliver
Lawmakers in the Virginia House and Senate voted Saturday to legalize recreational marijuana beginning in 2024, but opted to delay key decisions about how the new marketplace will operate until next year.
âThis moves us in a direction to strike down and address institutional barriers, over policing, over arrests and over convictions of African Americans, who do not use marijuana at a higher rate than our White counterparts, but we seem to get the brunt of criminal convictions,â said House Majority Leader Charniele Herring, citing a state study that fo
Medical marijuana dispensaries get permission from General Assembly to sell un-processed flower In this Aug. 21, 2019 photo, an industrial hemp plant is shown in Clayton Township, Mich. The legalization of industrial hemp is spurring U.S. farmers into unfamiliar terrain, tempting them with profits amid turmoil in agriculture while proving to be a tricky endeavor in the early stages. Up for grabs is a lucrative market, one that could grow more than five-fold globally by 2025, driven by demand for cannabidiol. The compound does not cause a high like that of marijuana and is hyped as a health product to reduce anxiety, treat pain and promote sleep. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya) (Source: Paul Sancya)
Virginia Mercury
(Getty Images)
Del. Don Scott, D-Portsmouth, said it wasn’t just a pungent odor that struck him during a recent visit to the city’s newly opened medical marijuana dispensary.
“I saw all that marijuana and I was looking over my shoulder waiting on the feds to run in and get us all because there was so much cannabis in there,” said Scott, a lawyer, who contrasted the scene to a court hearing three days later where he witnessed “a young brother get sentenced to five years for possession with intent to distribute marijuana” a disparate approach to the drug he called absurd and hypocritical.