A Senate committee showed support for one pot bill while crushing another yesterday.
A Senate committee showed support for one pot bill while crushing another yesterday.
Hopes for reducing the punishment of simple possession of an ounce or less of chromic to a fine were cashed, but for those who do get caught, you might not get your drivers license pulled.
Currently in the state of Virginia, someone caught with less than an ounce receives a misdemeanor charge or can file for differed disposition. This alternative to the criminal charge shows up on your record, makes you pay a fine, complete community service, and take a class on avoiding drug abuse. On top of that your drivers license is pulled for six months.
Virginia is one of a about a dozen states that still pull drivers licenses for differed disposition.
“The loss of a drivers licenses isn’t related to small possession of marijuana and it can cause you to not fulfill the terms of the differed disposition,” said Sen. Adam Ebbin, the author of SB 327 which would remove the drivers license revocation.
A 42-year-old man named Brook testified in support of the bill. A small business co-owner with his 70-year-old father, Brook sought a small amount of pot after his aging father suffered from bladder cancer and online research led him to believe the drug might offer a kind of treatment.
But after acquiring the drug, Brook was pulled over for a driving offense. The cop smelled weed on him, pulled him from his car, hand cuffed him and charged him with possession.
The months that followed were hell for Brook who said he paid $600 for a lawyer who had him plead “guilty,” showed up for four court appearances, paid another $520 in fees for a first offenders programs, spent six months calling a phone number every day to find out if he had to submit to a drug test, and, on top of that, he lost his drivers license.
“I admit in my emotional state I committed a crime in the eyes of Virginia, but the punishment outweighed the crime,” Brook said before the Senate committee. “For a teenager, it’s a punishment. For an adult trying to run a business, it’s disastrous… Had I worked with any other company, I would have lost my job.”
No one spoke in opposition to the bill.
In a some-what surprising vote, the committee actually voted to support the bill when it moves on to a full committee hearing in the next few weeks.
This means first time offenders might not lose their drivers licenses if the bill manages to pass a number of critical steps.
This would be the only win for pot bills this session (so far.)
Ebbin’s second pot-related bill, SB 104, aimed to decriminalize simple possession, turning the misdemeanor charge into a $100 fine for first offenders.
No record of the incident would go on the accused record and additional offenses would see an increased fine.
“I would say fear of this plant and the prohibition on marijuana has failed,” Ebbin said. “If there’s anyone on this panel who didn’t try marijuana in college you probably have a child, cousin, niece or nephew who has.”
Ebbin offered statistics supporting his argument, with numbers like $67 million – the amount Virginia tax payers spend on fighting the drug:
Image via ACLU
Or 80%, the number of Virginians who support decriminalizing it:
Image via VCU
A representative from the Virginia Chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), Pam Novy, spoke before the panel to defend Ebbin’s bill.
“I’ve talked to hundreds of parents who have had children, young adult children, arrested and had their lives derailed as a result of criminal penalties for simple possession,” said Novy, who explained she first got involved in reforming pot laws after her son spent three months in jail for simple possession.
But there was opposition to the bill.
Rachael Hunley spoke on behalf of Community Coalitions of Virginia and the Central Virginia Heroin Task Force. She said her groups’ opposed the bill because it could lead to an increase in use by children and young adults.
“We believe there are other solutions for those who have made poor choices in the past including reevaluating expunging and recording sealing laws,” she said.
Kevin Carroll, President of the Fraternal Order of Police for Virginia, agreed saying weed is a gateway drug.
“The saying that there are millions of people hooked on heroin, they started on something first. They didn’t wake up one day and say ‘I’m gonna do heroin today.” I think they started out doing something else first,” he said. “Because of the addictive behavior [or marijuana] it lead to that.”
Neither Carroll or Hunley provided statistics backing up their arguments, but that didn’t stop the Senate committee from voting down Ebbin’s bill, effectively killing any hope for marijuana decriminalization in 2016.
This is the second year Ebbin has submitted a decrim bill, but he considered each year an education process. He praised the committee for supporting the removal of the drivers license punishment, calling it a remarkable shift in attitudes, and promised to return next year with more pot reform legislation.
Other states like Colorado have seen financial booms from recreational pot legalized, and Ebbin said he thought seeing success stories like that could help in future arguments.
“Having other states go first, and learning from their data, can be helpful,” he said. “[But] some people, particularly in Virginia, are afraid to break new ground.”
Vote breakdown:
Decriminalization of marijuana – SB 104
11-Y 4-N Passed by indefinitely in Courts of Justice
YEAS–Obenshain, Saslaw, Norment, McDougle, Stuart, Stanley, Reeves, Garrett, Chafin, Deeds, Sturtevant–11.
NAYS–Howell, Lucas, Edwards, McEachin–4.
Driver’s license; marijuana possession – SB 327
Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute (11-Y 4-N)
YEAS–Saslaw, Norment, Howell, Lucas, Edwards, McEachin, Stanley, Garrett, Chafin, Deeds, Sturtevant–11.
NAYS–Obenshain, McDougle, Stuart, Reeves–4.
