Virginia’s Democrat led legislature has passed a number marijuana-related laws in the last few weeks. The proposals were sent to Republican Governor. Glenn Youngkin has been hesitant to embrace reform, despite Virginia’s adoption of legislation legalizing the use, possession, and home cultivation cannabis by 2021.
The legislatively approved measures include plans to legalize cannabis retail sales and sentence people who have been incarcerated in the past for cannabis crimes. Both passed with a majority of party-line votes. Also included is a measure more widely supported that would prohibit the state from using only marijuana as evidence of abuse or neglect of children.
Here is a list of the most important cannabis bills sent to Youngkin this session. The governor has the option to either sign or veto these measures, let them become law without signing them, or send them back with requested changes to legislators.
Retail Sales
In Virginia, cannabis possession, use, and limited cultivation by adults are already legal. This is the result of a Democrat proposal that was approved by legislators in 2021. Adults can’t legally purchase the drug. Illegal stores have risen to meet the demand of consumers. Some estimates value the unregulated market around $3 billion.
After months of negotiation on issues like licensing, social equality, taxes, and even whether cannabis should be allowed to be grown outside, Democratic legislators this session came to a compromise that would allow retail sale to begin on 1 May 2025. Last month the bill was passed with a thin margin and very few Republican votes.
Now the question is whether Youngkin allows this measure to take effect. Since months, legislators working on a legal sale bill say they have received little to no response from Youngkin’s office despite attempts to reach out to see what the Governor might be open to. Since the passage of the legislation, the Governor has been silent. The governor’s press secretariat sent an email to Marijuana Moment last week pointing to Youngkin comments made earlier this year, in which “he stated that he didn’t have much interest in pushing forward with marijuana legalization.”
Parental Rights
In this session, legislation to protect parents and caregivers who use marijuana has been introduced in both chambers – SB 115 in Senate and HB833 in House – and won bipartisan support on key floor votes. The votes were almost or unanimously in favor of the bill by the Senate.
The proposal, if it passes into law, would prohibit the use of marijuana as evidence of abuse or neglect of children. The bill would also stipulate that any substance allowed for legal use by adults under the state’s drug, alcohol and cannabis laws will not be tested for during child custody or visitation cases. It says that a person’s “lawful consumption or possession” of these substances “shall not be a basis for restricting custody or visitation, unless other facts prove such consumption or possession is not in the child’s best interests.”
Since legalization, advocates say they have received numerous emails and phone calls about cases where a parent’s or guardian’s status as a patient of medical marijuana was used to deny custody or visitation.
The governor has not made it clear where he stands regarding the bill, as he hasn’t done with other marijuana-related issues. The broad bipartisan support of the Senate, and the efforts made by advocates to incorporate feedback received from the Governor’s Office last year have led advocates to believe that this is one of the cannabis-related measures most likely to be accepted.
The parental rights measure, unlike the other marijuana bills this session was passed so that Youngkin had only seven days to examine and decide the bill. This means that his office must weigh in before this weekend.
Resentencing
The legalization of marijuana in Virginia has not prevented hundreds of people from being incarcerated. Senator Angelia Graves’ (D) SB 696 would provide resentencing relief to many of these individuals . This does not include violent felonies.
If the bill becomes law, many criminal charges would have to be resentenced before the end of this year. Those whose sentences were increased for other crimes because of a previous marijuana conviction would be heard by April 1, 2020. Most cases will be automatically resolved, but some people who have convictions may need to petition the court.
Several civil rights and justice organizations support the measure including Virginia NAACP Marijuana Justice Rise for Youth The Last Prisoner Project Nolef Turns and NORML.
Sheba William, founder and executive director for Nolef Turns, as well as a member of Virginia NORML’s board, said to Marijuana Moment in this week: “As Virginia NORML stands to make millions of dollars from a plant which probably shouldn’t have been criminalized at all, we need to look at the people.” “Many of us have been working on this for a very long time.”
Williams and other reform advocates have pledged that they will take up the issue again next session, if Governor Youngkin stands in the way.
Public Employee Protection
HB 149 is a bill from Del. Dan Helmer’s (D) would allow employees of the public sector to use medical cannabis without fearing losing their job. The bill extends the protections that were already granted to employees in the private sector through a previous law passed in 2021. Helmer said that the legislation “inadvertently” did not protect employees in the public sector.
The bill has received bipartisan support from lawmakers and protects employees such as teachers, firefighters, police officers, and other medical professionals who use cannabis for treating diseases or conditions.
Joe Mirabile, representing Virginia’s Professional Firefighters spoke in support of the proposal at a committee meeting, noting that members had attributed marijuana with many benefits.
Mirabile stated that “my members are reporting that they rely less on alcohol, they sleep more at home, and they see other positive effects such as a reduction in joint and muscle pain, without having to take opioid prescriptions.”
Other Legislation
Cardinal News reports that a number of cannabis-related bills were passed this session.
HB452 from Del. Katrina Callsen, for instance, would repeal a provision which prevents those with prior convictions for simple possession of marijuana from being eligible for first-time offender programs. This measure, which is now on its way to the governor, was passed unanimously by the Senate and received a few Republican votes from the House.
A Republican-led bill, meanwhile — HB815 by Del. Mike Cherry would increase the maximum expiration date of cannabis products from six months to twelve months. The measure was approved by both chambers with bipartisan votes.
Cardinal News reports that a few other marijuana bills were either continued until next year or not acted on at all during this session. These included a criminal justice measure related to marijuana penalties, ( HB 773), and a Republican led measure, ( HB 448), which would have established a presumptive DUI level of 0.004 micrograms of delta-9-THC per liter.
A second Republican-sponsored bill HB1485 that would have allowed industrial hemp to contain up to 1 percent THC was defeated in a House committee vote by a score of 12-10.
The post Virginia Marijuana Bills on Governor’s Desk include Legal Sales, Sentence Relief, Employment Protections And Parental Rights first appeared on Marijuana Moment.
