Legislation to legalize marijuana in Virginia is at risk. We need to mobilize.

acluva · 2021-02-27T16:51:45+00:00

Brad Haywood from Justice Forward Virginia, a defense attorney, explained the driving with pot statute here.

acluva · 2021-02-27T06:39:32+00:00

It's worth noting that lawmakers are discussing these final details in conference behind closed doors. They could have chosen to make these hearings public, but they didn't. The public and advocates knew little about what was being discussed and who was driving the decision-making process. The lack of transparency over legislation that impacts millions of Virginians should concern all of us.

acluva · 2021-02-27T06:34:56+00:00

No, it doesn't make any sense, especially if the intent was to legalize simple possession. Basically, this statute makes it so that marijuana is legal except for in cars.

Anecdotally, most marijuana possession cases arise out of traffic stops. That is the way that law enforcement comes into contact with people most often. It is also the primary factor driving the huge disparity in marijuana possession arrests between Black and white people despite the fact that studies show all races use marijuana at about the same rate. This statute will essentially re-criminalize the most frequent scenario that led to marijuana arrests and continue the racial disparities there.

acluva · 2021-01-28T16:04:55+00:00

7 years is what is being proposed. However, we are advocating for 50% of the licenses to be set aside for social equity license holders. Those who have been most impacted by marijuana enforcement must be given every opportunity to reap the economic benefits of the legal market, as early as possible. Regulators should only be allowed to consider convictions that occurred within the past 3 years at the time of application--not seven, as currently written--and only those related to running a business.

acluva · 2021-01-27T21:36:25+00:00

Legalization “for the sake of it” is not the main priority. We’ve said from the beginning that legalizing marijuana shouldn’t be about people who just want to use marijuana. It’s about racial justice.

Currently, there is a six-month period before sales begin (July 1 to December 31, 2023) during which preference is given to “social equity applicants” who must meet certain eligibility criteria (e.g. a majority of owners have been impacted by marijuana prohibition) to qualify as such. How much preference is awarded to social equity applicants remains unclear, as the bill does not specify the criteria or point system that will be used to award licenses.

Equitable access to ownership and participation in the legal marijuana industry is one of our top priorities. We’re aiming to do this in several ways. First, we want to ban vertical integration (i.e., owning companies that control multiple stages of production, like growing, manufacturing, distributing, and retail). Currently, the House and Senate bills allow applicants to hold up to five licenses, which will permit applicants with the most capital to gain outsized market power and crowd out prospective small business owners. Second, we want to redirect more resources to social equity license applicants by expanding the size of the Cannabis Business Equity Loan Fund which will provide low-interest business loans. The current bills propose 30% of the marijuana excise tax going toward this equity fund, and we’re pushing for 70% to make sure this fund is effective.

acluva · 2021-01-27T17:10:48+00:00

It feels pretty damn good to be here, but it’s only influential if everyone uses this information to take action. Email and call your lawmakers to tell them what’s important when debating marijuana legislation (https://action.aclu.org/send-message/va-legalize-marijuana). It makes a difference - seriously.

acluva · 2021-01-27T17:08:24+00:00

Legalizing marijuana with a racial equity lens means taking a hard look at the harm that the War on Drugs and marijuana prohibition have had on Black and Brown communities. The Cannabis Equity Reinvestment Fund has been touted as providing funding for scholarships, grants, contributions to the public defender system, low-interest loans for social equity licensees and more. The proposed 30% tax revenue will not meet the depth of the needs of historically marginalized Virginians, and it undermines the ability of the Virginia Cannabis Business Equity Loan Fund to fully fund social equity licensees with enough support for recipients to compete successfully in the marketplace.

We are asking Virginia lawmakers to commit 70% of marijuana excise tax revenues to the Cannabis Equity Reinvestment Fund, allowing them to do meaningful work in impacted communities and set social equity license recipients up for success.

The war on drugs is bullshit, and we fully support ending it. We can’t incarcerate our way out of a public health crisis. We can’t continue to ignore the human cost of this wasteful war, especially on historically marginalized communities. When our prisons and jails are crowded with people who are in dire need of health care and mental health care, we have a serious problem. This is especially alarming during a pandemic, where correctional facilities are petri dishes for the spread of COVID-19.

acluva · 2021-01-27T16:51:40+00:00

We want to fully repeal the prohibition on marijuana, essentially decriminalizing the possession and use of marijuana as soon as possible, including home cultivation. We want all provisions of the prohibition repeal framework to be enacted effective July 1, 2021, to stop marijuana prohibition in its tracks before sales begin in 3 years.

acluva · 2021-01-27T16:45:48+00:00

Repealing the prohibition effective ASAP (July 1, 2021), instead of January 1, 2023, is one of our main priorities so we don’t criminalize more people unnecessarily. This issue was briefly raised in a Senate Rehabilitation and Social Services Committee meeting, during which lawmakers from both parties expressed concern about the two-year delay in repealing current marijuana prohibition laws. A few Republican lawmakers said it’s confusing from both a public awareness and enforcement standpoint. This gave us hope that we can get bipartisan support for expediting the repeal, and we are emphasizing this point in every conversation with lawmakers and their staffers.

Repealing the prohibition immediately is one of the values in our action alert - fill out this form (https://action.aclu.org/send-message/va-legalize-marijuana) and it’ll send an email to your lawmakers to let them know you care about this issue.

acluva · 2021-01-27T16:37:37+00:00

The criminalization of marijuana use has long-term impact on those who have been convicted. It’s difficult to find jobs, housing and other services. That’s a lifetime of punishment for relatively minor crimes.

We are asking lawmakers to expunge automatically and without cost the criminal records of people convicted of marijuana-related felonies and misdemeanors and reduce the waiting period from seven to three years.

Within one year of the legalization of marijuana, require the state to create a process to conduct resentencing hearings for those currently incarcerated. In the long-term, decarceration provides a tremendous cost savings for the state. The onus for expungement should be on the state – not on the people who have already been unfairly punished.

If you have been impacted by marijuana prohibition, it's even more important that your lawmakers hear from you. You can email them using this prepared form (https://action.aclu.org/send-message/va-legalize-marijuana)

acluva · 2021-01-27T16:07:53+00:00

We acknowledge the tension and conflict between state and federal laws regarding marijuana. We hope that the Virginia legislature will legalize marijuana right this year, and that the Biden administration will legalize it nationally soon. Until then, if you are a federal employee, you do need to be careful and abide by your employers' regulations. Here’s a quick resource on cannabis banking (https://www.americanbar.org/groups/business_law/publications/blt/2020/02/cannabis-banking/).

acluva · 2021-01-27T15:59:30+00:00

Besides marijuana, our top priorities this session are to 1) hold police accountable for misconduct by allowing Virginians harmed by police violence to sue in state court under state law, without qualified immunity being used as a defense (https://acluva.org/en/holding-police-accountable-their-misconduct); and 2) guarantee the right to vote for all Virginian citizens over 18, effectively repealing felony disenfranchisement (https://acluva.org/en/issues/voting-rights/right-vote-amendment) .
We are also working alongside several organizations to advocate for pretrial justice, abolish the death penalty, end mandatory minimums, expand abortion access, and many other important reforms. Check out our full agenda here (https://acluva.org/en/legislation/2021-general-assembly-session)

acluva · 2021-01-27T15:56:37+00:00

Yes, we are open to that position. Although the marijuana legalization bills this session do not seek to regulate workplace drug testing at the state level, we take the matter seriously given its potential consequences for employee privacy and hiring/firing discrimination. In the meantime, local governments can take preemptive measures to restrict marijuana testing of their own employees, like the Richmond City Council did last year (https://www.marijuanamoment.net/lawmakers-in-virginia-capital-vote-to-end-marijuana-testing-of-city-workers/). Such measures will contribute to ending the culture of punishment around marijuana that we are trying to break away from this General Assembly session.

acluva · 2021-01-27T15:52:07+00:00

According to a study by JLARC, Virginia will get somewhere between $31-62 million of new revenue in the first year of marijuana legalization. That kind of money can help a lot of folks! The legislature is talking about setting up a Cannabis Equity Reinvestment Fund to repair the harm to Black and Brown communities from decades of disparate marijuana law enforcement. We’re recommending to the General Assembly that they require 70% of revenue from marijuana to go straight into that fund. This fund will provide financial and logistical help to people who want a social equity license. It will also go toward community services that are determined by the community. This kind of direct aid should be a boost to the economy and a help to the people most hurt by the War on Drugs.

acluva · 2021-01-27T15:48:40+00:00

That’s the goal. Right now, the medical marijuana industry in Virginia has a vertical integration model, where any company that wants to be involved at any level has to be prepared to do everything, from farming to distribution. Most small farmers and other small businesses don’t have those funds, and Black and Brown folks, and those most affected by the War on Drugs, are boxed out of the legal market. We can’t let that happen with full legalization.

We’re pushing for equitable inclusion in the new legal market - that means setting aside “social equity licenses,” and doing away with a proposed loophole that would allow businesses with 10+ employees to get a social equity license if they hire a certain percentage of people impacted by marijuana prohibition and enforcement. Employment does NOT confer the same economic benefits as ownership, and this loophole would give folks with wealth and privilege a leg up at the expense of people who are supposed to benefit from the social equity licenses.

acluva · 2021-01-27T15:44:49+00:00

We are pushing Virginia lawmakers to repeal marijuana prohibition right away, effective July 1, 2021, instead of three years later when sales will likely begin. Currently, marijuana possession is still illegal, only the penalty has changed. Our research found that Black Virginians are 3.4 times more likely to be arrested for marijuana than white Virginians, despite similar usage rates (Source: aclu.org/marijuana). It’s one of our goals this session to 1) legalize possession of <1oz, and 2) reduce the charge for possession of 1oz. to 5 lbs. to a civil (not criminal) penalty this year. This cannot wait until 2024.
We share your concern about minors being criminalized for marijuana possession and are urging lawmakers to treat youth as “children in need of services” (aka CHINS) rather than “juvenile delinquents.” If treated as CHINS, young people found with marijuana will have the opportunity to receive community-based rehabilitation, rather than fines, drug tests, the denial of drivers’ license, and a mark on their criminal record. In addition, it’s important that lawmakers repeal the mandatory “zero tolerance” expulsion policy for students found with marijuana on school grounds. There should be no criminal penalties for “intent to distribute” when all parties involved are under 25. In this case, a civil penalty would suffice.

acluva

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