Virginia Moves to Reduce Cannabis Penalties for Personal Possession
In a recent move to decriminalize cannabis in Virginia, lawmakers have introduced new rules that will take effect on July 1st of this year. With the new changes it means that there will be reduced penalties for personal possession, up to an ounce of cannabis. Those reduced penalties might come with a small fine but include no arrest or criminal record.
Right now there is a medicinal cannabis program in Virginia and it offers cannabis products to those who have been approved. But of course those products must pass through a maze of regulations first before being sold.
In 2019, less than 2 percent of licensed doctors in Virginia had registered to write those medical cannabis recommendations.
That means that there are very few yet who are willing to get involved, helping people to join up to the medicinal cannabis program, and it still might be incredibly difficult for people in that region to pursue cannabis freedom for themselves.
Those who are approved have had to receive a certificate from a doctor that approves the use of THC-A and CBD products for personal consumption.
Lawmakers in Virginia might one day join the wave of legalization around the country and pursue more recreational cannabis privileges, but that wasn't the recent change they sought to make just yet. In the meantime, reducing criminal penalties that are associated with cannabis activity is a good thing because those activities never should have been criminalized in the first place to the extent that they have. Criminal justice resources shouldn't be wasted to the extent that they are on drug war policies any longer, there are more important activities to be concerned with.
According to the current attorney general in Virginia, M. Herring, he says that this decriminalization move that they've recently made is just one step on their path to eventually realize further legalization of cannabis for regulated adult legal market. As it stands right now, there still seems to be plenty of confusion surrounding their medicinal cannabis program though, and by last year less than 1,000 people in the state had been registered with it altogether.
Virginia is basically the south, as far as the politics goes. THis is huge news!
they need to keep the flow goin!🚆💨
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Great news but we still need to have cannabis DECRIMINALIZED!!!! Enough of the bullshit the government and "law" enforcement treating cannabis like it's some horrible poison. Treat it like any plant and let the PEOPLE decide and use it to improve their health.
like any plant? that is crazy talk!😜
Sounds like typical super conservative Virginia bs to me. So all they did was increase the max amount you can have without going to jail from 14g to 28 g. What they do not tell you is you still have to be on probation for a year and not leave the state during this time if you are caught with under sed amount. There is also a likelihood of you loosing your driver's license for at least 6 months and best case get your restricted licence for ONLY work travel. Best part, consistent drug tests during that 1 year period - yay you can't consume cannabis for a year... you can opt out of this by accepting 3 months in jail (out in about 2 months on "good behavior") - which in my opinion is a much better option for most people in the situation. So it doesn't include jail time... but it kind of does, or at least a partial stripping of your personal freedoms - to put it lightly.
Virginia doctors are all afraid to sign up for the medical program bc of how it will make them look to the conservative community there and how it would negatively affect their business. They are also afraid of being judged by their colleges. IF you actually were one of those 1,000 people that obtained a card there, you bet your ass the government will be all over you and tracking every move you make, as well as every move the doctors who prescribed the cards makes. I guess you have to be from there to truly understand the politics of this commonwealth.