The Virginia General Assembly, using the budget amendment process, has walked back efforts made in recent years to decriminalize marijuana possession.
Effective July 1, a person in Virginia is at risk to receive a class 3 misdemeanor for possessing between 4 ounces and a pound and class 2 on any subsequent offense. Once convicted, the person will face up to a $500 fine and for subsequent offenses up to $1,000 fine and possible jail time.
This also means a person convicted of would experience at least seven years of collateral consequences that include barriers to housing, education, employment, benefits and increased risk of deportation.
Decriminalization advocates point out that the new statutes outlined in the budget amendment are ripe for a number of abuses, including police inferring a pathway around the prohibition on searches based on marijuana odor, a law enacted in 2021. Research and data have already outlined the historic disparate enforcement of these laws against Black Virginians. Black residents, especially ages 18-24, will be the prime targets of these new crimes.
In 2019 the proposal to decriminalize possession came about because arrests were up 115 percent from 2003, with first-time convictions increasing from 6,500 in 2008 to 10,000 in 2017. Even after the 2020 decriminalization went into effect, the disparity didn’t decrease. From July 1, 2020 through Jan. 11, 2021 around 50 percent of people logged for marijuana possession offenses that occurred in Virginia were Black, while roughly only 20 percent of Virginia’s population is Black.
Prior to decriminalization, marijuana possession enforcement cost Virginia taxpayers an estimated $81 million every year, in addition to the detrimental human and social costs. And it cannot be ignored that the burden of the current system falls disproportionately on Black residents and people of color in the Commonwealth.
Last month, members of the CannaJustice Coalition delivered a Legalize It Right petition to legislators, and during the 2021 legislative session, 40 cannabis equity organizations delivered a letter to Virginia legislators and the administration calling for no new crimes, as well as a halt to exclusive early access for corporate medicinal operators, and a focus on meaningful resentencing and reuniting families.
If adult-use regulation is to come to Virginia, then we have to fight to shift what we know about who will have access as a consumer and who continue to be labeled a criminal.
Comments
Chelsea Higgs Wise (she/ her), executive director of Marijuana Justice
“The move to legislate marijuana possession crimes within the budget process was intentional to exclude the public, the press and what we heard today was many legislators were also not briefed. Our coalition has fought three rounds of new crimes this year and there is no reason for leadership to believe this process nor policy reflects the will of the people. This is an untraditional move to add crimes through the budget and is an implication of how far criminalization advocates will go to continue the reinvestment to law enforcement rather than repealing crimes and reinvesting in communities hurt by the war on drugs. Reviewing the budget document speaks to our priorities, and I’d say that Virginia has to start talking about criminalization as a public health issue and legalization as part of that conversation in health equity.”
Kalia Harris (she/her), executive director of Virginia Student Power Network
“Legislators on both sides of the aisle in Virginia took a gigantic step in the wrong direction today by passing a budget that re-criminalizes marijuana possession by legislating new misdemeanors into the budget. Despite their failed attempts at legislating new criminal penalties during the regular and veto sessions this year, VA legislators opted to legislate new crimes through the budget process, which did not include opportunities for public input. Legalizing marijuana in Virginia must not include legislating new marijuana-related crimes. We will continue to reject any legislation that seeks to criminalize another generation of Virginians.”
Andy Elders (he/ him), policy director of Justice Forward Virginia
“The police are looking for yet another back door to allow them to search people’s cars without probable cause.”
Brad Haywood (he/ him), executive director of Justice Forward Virginia
“For decades, legislatures have passed criminal statutes they thought would be narrowly applied, only for police and courts to find loopholes in enforcement, invariably causing disproportionate harm to Black people and their communities.”
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