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Why Is It Still So Hard To Legalize Marijuana?

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Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring has asked that question in public lately, and it’s one that all of our lawmakers should be considering.

Weed isn’t a big deal. The military is treating PTSD with ecstacy. The legal right to grow weed has existed in our nation’s capital for years. The city of Denver has medical mushrooms, while the state of Colorado has earned over $1 billion from pot sales.

The passage of the 2018 Farm Bill in December clears CBD to hit its projection as a $22 billion industry by 2022, despite the FDA dragging their feet. Cannabis may remain illegal at the federal level, but the majority of the country currently utilizes weed for medicinal purposes. Even as the war on drugs is waged by our executive leadership, a multi-billion dollar pot market continues to steamroll across the country, with Illinois becoming the 11th state to legalize recreational use. 

America’s political machine has moved on; presidential debates revolve around fresh topics, like immigration, gun control, and climate change. In the most recent Democratic debate, cannabis wasn’t even discussed, as legalization was approved all-but-unanimously by 21 of 22 candidates — the exception being our Uncle-in-Chief, Joe Biden. 

Today, you can not only smoke weed: you can drink it, drop it in your eye, have sex with it, prepare entire meals with it, open restaurants based on it, tax it for college funds, and make an honest career of growing it. And far more people use it than you might expect — even Jesus dabbled in some cannabis oil. 

Campaigns for legalization have been backed by a myriad of findings that, under safe administration, show the medicinal benefits outweigh the risks of cannabis use. Gateway-drug theories and communist sympathies once tied to the drug have been debunked. Cannabis legalization has also been shown to reverse rates of opioid abuse and deaths.

Save societies’ religious zealots and frothing teabaggers, people don’t really have any issues with weed. So why isn’t it legal here in Virginia yet?

Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring was the latest to ask that very question, in an Op-Ed published by the Daily Press. 

“Criminalizing minor marijuana possession is just not working. It is needlessly creating criminals. It is costing us a lot of money — the social cost is enormous, and there are disparities in enforcement you reported,” Herring wrote. “Virginia should decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana, address past convictions, and start moving toward legal and regulated adult use.”

While Herring’s opinion revitalized the topic of cannabis reform, he isn’t the first state official to speak up in recent months. Gov. Ralph Northam suggested decriminalization of simple possession during his State of the Commonwealth speech in January.

“We want to keep people safe,” Northam said. “But we shouldn’t use valuable law enforcement time, or costly prison space, on laws that don’t enhance public safety.” 

“Current law imposes a maximum 30 days in jail for a first offense of marijuana possession. Making simple possession a civil penalty will ease overcrowding in our jails and prisons, and free up our law enforcement and court resources for offenses that are a true threat to public safety.”

And before Northam’s speech, many Virginia judges publicly refused to jail first offenders for misdemeanor cases of marijuana possession. In a letter sent on January 3, Greg Underwood, the Commonwealth’s Attorney for the City of Norfolk, informed judges, law enforcement, and public safety officials that he won’t prosecute misdemeanor marijuana charges. He also stated that his office would support the release of defendants on bail in more misdemeanor and felony cases. Portsmouth’s Commonwealth Attorney Stephanie Morales rolled out a similar policy.

“The Office will cease prosecuting all misdemeanor marijuana possession cases and will move to nolle prosequi or dismiss such cases that fall within our purview,” read the memorandum published by Underwood.

Underwood cited an annual report that showed about 80 percent of first-offense marijuana possession arrests in Norfolk were African Americans in 2016 and 2017, despite the city’s population being 43 percent African American.

Federally, marijuana remains a Schedule I drug. The DEA still pairs it with LSD and heroin in its potential for abuse, with no federally recognized medical benefits, despite national polls showing significant public support for its legalization. Even CBD is hampered by the FDA, an organization infamous for approving controversial drugs like Zoloft and Dsuvia with little to no clinical testing.

And it isn’t much better here in Virginia. In 2015, the state general assembly passed a special case usage of non-psychoactive marijuana oils to treat intractable epilepsy — making us the 46th state to pass any form of cannabis legislation. The Commonwealth also allows prescribed marijuana and THC, but only for alleviating effects of chemo treatment in cases of cancer and glaucoma. 

Aside from that, all other cannabis legislation — six bills thus far, under the recommendation of law enforcement, Governor Northam and researchers alike — have died in committee.

“It’s not the governor, it’s not the bill sponsor themselves,” Virginia NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) Executive Director Jenn Michelle Pedini told RVA Magazine. “It really comes down to the Senate Courts of Justice Committee and the House Courts of Justice Committee. That’s where marijuana reform goes to die.”

Just this past January, the Virginia House’s Courts of Justice defeated HB 2317 in a 5-3 vote, a bill that proposed legalizing cannabis for those over 21, decriminalizing simple possession of cannabis and reducing maximum jail time for those underage. The Virginia state Senate’s Courts of Justice also defeated SB 997, a similar measure proposed by Sen. Adam Ebbin. A first offense for simple possession of marijuana (under 14 grams) remains a Class 1 misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of up to $500 and jail time of up to 30 days. 

“I will continue to fight for Virginians of all walks of life, from all political backgrounds, who believe as I do, that marijuana prohibition has been a failure,” said Sen. Stephen Heretick (D-Portsmouth), who proposed the bill. “From the bottom of my heart, I thank you for your support and for standing with me.”

Many argue that jail time served on marijuana charges is a financial waste disproportionately affecting African Americans. According to a report by the Virginia Crime Commission, African Americans constitute a majority of small possession cases, despite the fact that only 20 percent of Virginia residents are black.  

The report also stated that a first-time marijuana offender with court-appointed counsel can “expect to pay approximately $400 to $800 in costs and fees depending on the type of probation ordered.”

“Studies show that blacks and whites use marijuana at about the same rate,” said American Civil Liberties Union-Virginia executive director Claire Guthrie Gastañaga. A 2017 ACLU report concluded black Americans are 3.73 times more likely than whites to be arrested for marijuana possession.

“It is not surprising that the War on Marijuana, waged with far less fanfare than the earlier phases of the drug war, has gone largely, if not entirely, unnoticed by middle- and upper-class white communities,” stated the report.

A 2017 Virginia State Police report shared similar results, reporting that African Americans are more likely to be jailed for marijuana possession, despite using the drug at the same rate. Black defendants are also more likely than white defendants to be found guilty, rather than have their charges dismissed, according to state court records. 

Crime analyst and former detective Richard James told WKTR that law enforcement can still cite you for possession of marijuana, and explained what could happen in that case. 

The evidence is clear that there are racial biases in the enforcement of marijuana,” said James.

Democrats argue it is a Republican-controlled assembly that has stalled marijuana reform. 

“If we elect a Democratic majority, I think you are looking at a clear, distinct possibility marijuana will be part of a new Virginia economy, along with clean energy,” said Kathy Galvin, a 2019 Virginia delegate candidate, according to news reports.

Yet, sympathy for cannabis has even come from Republican legislators, like the case of former Speaker Of The US House of Representatives John Boehner, who sees the plant, under the appropriate supervision, as a cash crop and a personal liberty. 

“It can be used to excess, and likely will,” Boehner told NPR. “But that doesn’t mean that we should take wine or liquor off the market, or beer or cigarettes for that matter. And I do think that by decriminalizing, you’re going to open up a lot more research so we can learn more about the 4,000 year history of the use of this plant.”

In 2018, the Virginia Senate authorized the first five medical cannabis dispensaries for non-psychoactive CBD and THC-A oils, most of which will be open by the fall 2019. In the next session, Del. Glenn Davis, R-Virginia Beach, filed HB 2245, a bill to double the number of medical cannabis dispensaries. 

An estimated 1.1 million jobs could be created by 2025 if marijuana were legalized, according to an analysis by New Frontier Data. Dalitso, a Manassas-based investor group that owns one of the first five dispensaries licensed in Virginia, began with an initial staff of 50 and has significantly grown, based solely on projected sales within the state.

Photo by Marijuana Pictures

“The cannabis industry is growing, and Virginia is growing along with it,” said Greg Kennedy, a partner with Dalitso, according to news reports.

In contrast, some Virginia Republicans have merely paraded legislation under the banner of reform. In 2018, state Senate Majority Leader Tommy Norment proposed his own marijuana legislation, SB 954, at first touting it as cannabis legislation, only to later restate that the bill would only offer a chance for expungement of records and negation of possible jail time to first offenders.

“Legislative change is about the possible,” said Jeff Ryer, a spokesman for Norment. Ryer told the Richmond Times-Dispatch that Norment removed measures to decriminalize because with those measures in place, the bill would have no chance of passage.

The problem is, Virginia does not allow expungement. Norment’s bill would have simply created a separate registry apart from the national criminal database, though offenses would still show up in background checks. Tickets and fees issued through the program would be funneled into a separate fund for the state police, who would have been required to run the registry.

“Senator Norment’s bill is an expungement measure not sharing a freckle in common with decriminalization,” Bill Farrar, ACLU of Virginia public policy and communication director, told the Richmond Times-Dispatch. “This is an urgent criminal justice and racial justice issue in Virginia that lawmakers should be taking more seriously.”

The bill passed the Senate by a near unanimous 38-2 vote, but others involving marijuana died in the House Courts of Justice Committee. And though Norment said he favored decriminalization, he later voted against Senator Adam Ebbin’s 2019 decriminalization bill, SB997, in the Senate Courts of Justice Committee.

“Virginians want marijuana possession decriminalized, not to be charged three times as much as a regular expungement in order to be tracked on a ‘marijuana offender’ list,” Pedini said.

“The primary impediment to meaningful marijuana law reform in Virginia is the leadership of legislative committees,” Pedini said. “While the overwhelming majority of Virginia lawmakers may favor decriminalizing marijuana, or even legalizing responsible adult use, unless those bills can advance through committee to the floor for a vote, they simply cannot succeed. ”

The main contention over marijuana legislation today is where the road ends; Herring and many Democrats want eventual legalization, while many Republican legislators don’t want anything beyond decriminalization. Though some GOP legislators have humored small measures toward weed reform, short sporadic bursts will never be enough to break up the party’s closed front; concrete changes in Virginia will require the unanimous assent of Republican leadership. Until then, any efforts to pass cannabis legislation will be crippled by the very saboteurs that have gone to battle where other issues are concerned over GOP-endorsed virtues of personal liberty, limited government, and free markets that, where marijuana is concerned, they stand firmly against.  

If Virginians want fairer and safer marijuana laws, they must elect those candidates who will support such measures,” Pedini said.

And despite a public that supports reform at historic highs, politicians are prepared to vote along party lines rather than the wishes of their own constituency. It’s true that the war on drugs was a failure; so why are so many Virginia lawmakers still fighting?

Advocates Seek More Access To Medical Marijuana In Virginia

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Virginians with a variety of medical issues are hoping the state will make it easier for them to access medical marijuana.

RICHMOND, Va. — As other states have relaxed their laws against marijuana, citizens across Virginia gathered here Saturday to discuss how to persuade the General Assembly to legalize medical and recreational marijuana in the Commonwealth.

About 150 people, including health care providers and attorneys, attended the Virginia 2019 Cannabis Conference, held by the Virginia chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

Virginia NORML advocates decriminalizing possession of marijuana and regulating medical and recreational-use production and sales of the substance.

Members of NORML are hopeful after Gov. Ralph Northam voiced support for decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana during his State of the Commonwealth speech on Wednesday, the first day of the General Assembly’s 2019 session.

“We want to keep people safe. But we shouldn’t use valuable law enforcement time, or costly prison space, on laws that don’t enhance public safety,” the governor said in his speech. “Current law imposes a maximum 30 days in jail for a first offense of marijuana possession.”

So far, lawmakers have proposed six bills to decriminalize simple marijuana possession. For example, HB 2371, sponsored by Del. Steve Heretick, D-Portsmouth, and HB 2373, by Del. Lee Carter, D-Prince William, would legalize marijuana for Virginians 21 and older and have the state operate retail marijuana stores. Under such proposals, Virginians under 21 who are caught with marijuana would have to pay a civil penalty.

Most attendees at the conference, held at the Delta by Marriott hotel, seemed particularly interested in medical marijuana and how to access it without traveling to another state.

Lorene Davidson of Richmond works in anesthesia as a nurse practitioner. She came to the conference because of her ongoing struggle with antidepressants, which she found were bad for her liver.

“I’m looking mostly for a way to find out more about getting a medical card and furthering getting that taken care of,” Davidson said.

As a speaker at the event, Melanie Seifert Davis of Richmond shared the story of her 10-year-old daughter Madison, who was diagnosed with ependymoma brain cancer in 2014.

“Although I’m not new to the world of cannabis, I’m brand new to the world of cannabis reform,” Davis said.

Madison is on four different cannabis-based products including CBD, THC, THCA and FECO (full extract cannabis oil) to help with seizures and the cancer itself, Davis said.

“Today and for every tomorrow I’m given, I will fill seven capsules with high doses of four different cannabis medications and watch as Madison swallows each one,” Davis said. “Science, research and experience in my heart all know that it can and will and has helped her.”

At the conference, Davis said the family recently received good news about Madison’s cancer: Four of the five tumors were gone.

“Cannabis is an important and essential part of why she is still here and still her, five years into this battle for her life,” Davis shared. “Cannabis is why she has never, not even once, suffered from the nausea, vomiting or seizures that are expected side effects of her chemo.”

Not only does Davis’ daughter suffer from cancer, but her son, Aiden, has Crohn’s disease. Aiden also uses cannabis to ease the pain of everyday life, Davis said.

“I fight because when I told my son about today, the first thing he said with legitimate fear in his voice was, ‘Mom, you can’t tell them those things. You can’t tell them about Maddie’s medicine. Cannabis is illegal. I need you; you can’t go to jail,’” Davis said.

Madison has been on cannabis products since June 2017. Davis said she gets Madison and Aiden’s cannabis from a licensed doctor in California.

Jenn Michelle Pedini, the executive director for Virginia NORML, said progress had been made in getting the state to expand access to medical cannabis.

According to the Virginia Board of Pharmacy, patients and their legal guardians can register to obtain such products if they have a certification issued by a physician.

“In 2016, we passed a bill that let us go forth and write a regulatory program that was based on Connecticut’s then-program, which was also low-THC, extraction-based products only and served to a small set of patients,” Pedini said.

In 2018, the General Assembly passed a law allowing practitioners to issue certifications for the use of cannabis-based products to alleviate symptoms “of any diagnosed condition or disease determined by the practitioner to benefit from such use.”

The Board of Pharmacy has given approval to pharmaceutical companies to open five dispensaries across the state where CBD and THC-A oils will be sold to authorized patients.

Del. Glenn Davis, R-Virginia Beach, has filed a bill (HB 2245) to double the number of medical cannabis dispensaries.

Written by Madison Manske, Capital News Service. Image via Facebook

Norfolk’s Commonwealth Attorney Announces Weed Just Isn’t A Big Deal

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In spirit of the new year, Norfolk’s office of the Commonwealth Attorney took the “new year, new me” goal to unprecedented heights. In line with Virginia’s continuing push for cannabis decriminalization, Norfolk’s Commonwealth’s Attorney, Greg Underwood, said in a letter addressed last Thursday that he will largely stop prosecuting people for possession of marijuana.

The letter’s intent is to establish a new directive for the year; it was forwarded to judges, city and state leaders, and criminal justice/public safety colleagues, according to a press release by Virginia NORML.

“The Office already does not prosecute these cases; however, some come to the office as misdemeanor appeals or when attached to felony charges or misdemeanor charges the Office handles,” Underwood wrote in the letter. “The Office will cease prosecuting all misdemeanor marijuana possession cases and will move to nolle prosequi or dismiss such cases that fall within our purview.”

According to Virginia NORML, marijuana arrests in Virginia increased 20% between 2016 and 2017. They expect that over $100M will be spent on enforcing marijuana prohibition across the Commonwealth, “with nearly 28,000 Virginians arrested for marijuana-related crimes.” According to the same release, Mr. Underwood has already established his stance on cannabis; last fall, at a Virginia NORML-sponsored panel discussion, he stated, “I support legalizing marijuana.”

Jenn Michelle Pedini, executive director of Virginia NORML, was impressed by Underwood’s initiative. “The fruits of Mr. Underwood’s leadership on marijuana possession prosecution can be seen in Commonwealth’s Attorney races throughout Virginia,” she said. “On the 2018 campaign trail, Chesterfield Commonwealth’s Attorney Scott Miles embraced a more progressive approach to enforcement than his predecessor or challenger. This year, three Northern Virginia Commonwealth’s Attorney candidates are echoing Mr. Underwood’s policy, pledging not to waste taxpayer resources prosecuting simple misdemeanor marijuana possession.”

The General Assembly approved the use of cannabidiol oils in 2018, but Virginia is still currently one of 20 states that bans both recreational and medicinal marijuana use. But it seems attitudes are changing. “It’s time for the Virginia General Assembly to take legislative action to decriminalize marijuana,” Pedini said. “Seven out of ten Virginians favor fines, not crimes, for possession of small amounts of marijuana for personal use. In the absence of such action, we can expect to see municipalities and Commonwealth’s Attorneys leverage the powers they do have when it comes to enforcing marijuana prohibition.”

The City of Norfolk officially endorsed marijuana decriminalization in 2018 and has already added it to the docket for the General Assembly in their 2019 legislative agenda. SB 997 sponsored by Senator Adam Ebbin (D-30), would decriminalize small-time possession of cannabis by adults and instead issue tickets; $50 for first violation, $100 for a second violation, and $250 for a third or subsequent violation.

The Virginia 2019 Cannabis Conference & Lobby Day starts in Richmond this Saturday, January 12th, and continues on to the 14th. The conference will feature expert speakers on the Virginia’s emerging hemp industry, medical cannabis, and marijuana law reform. For more information or to register, click here. For more information on Cannabis reform in Virginia or to keep up with the conversation, visit the Virginia NORML site.

‘Legalize Virginia’ to Elevate the Discussion Around Marijuana Reform

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Update: Legalize Virginia has been rescheduled to next week, starting Sept. 18.

Last week the Board of Pharmacy Ad Hoc Committee met to determine which companies will be the first to be able to open medical cannabis dispensaries in Virginia.

Yes, they met behind closed doors. And no, the current law is not enough. But that doesn’t change the fact that what is happening right now is a huge, huge step for marijuana in Virginia.

Within the next year, you will be able to bring a form signed by your doctor to a regulated business in the Commonwealth, and there, they will give you an oil derived from a marijuana plant grown on site. It’s just the beginning for those very lucky five business license holders, who you can expect to fiercely try to attract as many patient customers through their doors as possible.

When you picture the folks waiting in line at those dispensaries, I urge you to think of the hundreds of thousands of people in Virginia with genuine illnesses and conditions, who genuinely will find solace and healing from medical marijuana.

Think of my friend Creed Leffler, who has Cerebral Palsy. He calls marijuana the “miracle plant” for the way it helps his muscles relax. “There is no such thing as recreational marijuana,” Leffler said. “It’s all medicinal.”

Creed Leffler

The list of the ailments that can be treated with marijuana is longer than your arm. Check out this chart. Chronic pain, epilepsy, PTSD, ALS, cancer, diabetes — the list goes on and on. The stories are heartbreaking.

Melanie Seifert Davis’s daughter Maddie has been fighting metastatic brain cancer since she was five. “Because of the use of multiple cannabis products, Madison lives a life free of pain, seizures or any limiting deficits, and full of the joys of childhood all children deserve,” said Davis, an ER nurse. “My degree in Biology and my years in the trenches of modern medicine have enabled me to make treatment decisions for my family that rely on evidence-based best practices and emerging research findings, including the multitude of medical benefits that can be derived from marijuana.”

Melanie Seifert Davis’ with her daughter Maddie

I expect marijuana law reform in Virginia to move relatively quickly from here. Expect the businesses granted licenses to be a part of the army of voices banging the drum for even more cannabis law reform in the Commonwealth. The organization I am a part of, Virginia NORML, will be pushing for a decriminalization bill this upcoming General Assembly.

There is hope. There is a plan. And there’s also going to be a party.

Virginia NORML is working with Norfolk’s O’Connor Brewing Company to push the conversation forward with Legalize Virginia Festival, a week-long series of workshops, panels, events, and activities all diving into a different aspect of reform.

Last Monday, the group held “Marijuana Saved My Life: Cannabis as Medicine in Virginia,” a forum on the new medical cannabis law, who it will help, and how to talk to your doctor about it, with Virginia NORML Executive Director Jenn Michelle Pedini leading the panel. Lisa Bohn, a Purple Heart veteran who uses cannabis to help her cope with PTSD, along with Davis and Leffler, will also speak on the panel. On Tuesday, Sept. 18, the festival will hold the “Equity and Expungement: Talking Marijuana and Race in Virginia” panel, which will look at the disparity in arrest rates among white Virginians and Virginians of color, the expungement of records of those with marijuana offenses, and more. Norfolk NAACP President Joe Dillard, Bill Farrar, director of public policy and communications for ACLU of Virginia, and expungement and restoration of rights attorney Wanda Cooper will serve on the panel. Thursday’s discussion will dive into what cities in Virginia can do about cannabis law reform.

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All forums run from 7 to 8 pm at O’Connor Brewing Company and followed by more informal workshops. Tonight, there will be a workshop on growing hops and hemp, on Tuesday will be a workshop on entering the cannabis industry, and on Thursday there will be a workshop on how to be a kick-ass marijuana activist.

Friday, Sept. 21 is the festival atmosphere. O’Connor is releasing a special beer they’re brewing with hemp seeds, called “YES, NORFOLK CAN(yon),” a pale ale modeled after their Norfolk Canyon brew. There will be a ton of pop-ups as part of NOMARAMA’s Munchie Market, a killer list of independent vendors, DJs, a pop-up yoga class, and a retro arcade. The festival runs from 3 pm to midnight.

The fact that O’Connor Brewing Co., a major name in Virginia craft beer, is hosting this series of events is, in-and-of-itself, a testament to the new day for marijuana in Virginia.

This issue is out of the shadows. Soon, we’ll be walking into legal dispensaries in the light of day. And what a beautiful day that will be.

You can check out the entire schedule for Legalize Virginia here.

The Sorry State of Weed Legislation in Virginia

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Here’s a hypothetical situation involving two hypothetical US states.

US State (A’s) GOP just updated their platform to include the following: a penalty reduction for possessing less than an ounce of marijuana (these offenses will now be civil, not criminal, charges, payable by a fine of no more than $100), expanded access to medicinal marijuana (giving doctors the ability to determine the appropriate use of cannabis), urging Congress to remove cannabis from the list of Schedule 1 drugs, and a call to pass legislation for the increased cultivation and sale of hemp. That’s a pretty progressive hypothetical state, huh?

Then you have US State (B), which just increased its marijuana-related arrests by more than 20 percent between 2016 and 2017. US State (B) also finds itself in the top six states in the country for marijuana-related arrests, even though eight out of ten state citizens support decriminalization of marijuana.

I lied. This isn’t a hypothetical situation. One of these states is Virginia, and the other one is Texas. Take a guess which state is which.

Bad news it is, Virginia.

The Commonwealth’s state legislature is officially more antiquated than the Texas GOP – top marks. And the cherry on top? Texas Republicans followed the same Virginia model, which allows doctors to determine appropriate cannabis use for their patients, and is now effectively leaving the Commonwealth in the dust.

Virginia NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) Executive Director, Jenn Michelle Pedini, is the Commonwealth’s brain trust regarding all marijuana legislation in the state, from the painfully frustrating to the optimistically hopeful.

Let’s start with the frustrating first. Unlike states such as Colorado and California, which have passed marijuana legislation through voter initiatives, Virginians will have to pass marijuana legislation through the legislature.

“It’s not the governor, it’s not the bill sponsor themselves,” Pedini said. “It really comes down to the Senate Courts of Justice Committee and the House Courts of Justice Committee. And in the House there’s a subcommittee called House Courts of Justice Subcommittee One, which most know as the House Criminal Law Subcommittee. That’s the sticking point. That’s where marijuana reform goes to die.”

Pedini goes on to say that she hopes Republicans would want to get out in front of the decriminalization issue in 2019, but sees the drive to do so isn’t there. Nonetheless, there is a reason to be hopeful as voters look to 2020, which Pedini believes will be the year that sweeping changes and progress are made.

“The general idea is that we can do it in the 2019 session and Republicans could have that win, or we could do it in 2020 legislature, which is going to be a vastly different makeup,” Pedini said. “It’s almost a no-brainer. We’re going to see candidates campaign much more heavily on marijuana policy reform, both at the state and the federal level.”

Photo by Marijuana Pictures

She feels confident about marijuana reform in 2020, as she predicts there will be a much younger legislature. “Regardless of which party is in control, we’re going to have younger folks in office,” Pedini said. “The reason why we don’t have the reforms that the overwhelming majority of Virginians demand for is simple: Virginians continue to reelect the same conservative prosecutors to represent them in the General Assembly, and those folks are unwilling to move on this issue.”

Pedini discussed the not-so-hypothetical scenario in a very real Virginia, in which law enforcement arrested 27,852 people for marijuana-related offenses in 2017, up by almost 6,000  arrests from the previous year. “While the rest of the country is drastically decreasing their marijuana enforcement either because of decriminalization efforts at municipal or state levels or because of regulating use at the state level, Virginia is moving in the opposite direction,” Pedini said. “And that is not at all in context with what the overwhelming majority of Virginians want.”

Additionally, there are enormous financial benefits can come from state-regulated marijuana sales. Pedini mentioned Pueblo County in Colorado, which is using tax money from marijuana sales to help students pay for college. Pueblo County Commissioner Sal Pace told the local CBS-affiliate station that only a few years ago, “These are dollars that would have been going to the black market, drug cartels. Now money that’s used to fund drug cartels is now being used to fund college scholarships.”

For Pedini, the financial side of regulated marijuana sales is an obvious bonus, but there is a greater concern. “I think more importantly than the tax incentive around regulated marijuana sales is the public safety that comes with regulated sales,” she said. “What we are saying as a state with every year that we don’t regulate the sale of marijuana is that we would prefer drug dealers be the regulators of this industry. We know that drug dealers don’t I.D. before they sell marijuana. We know that in states that have regulated sales of marijuana, they do.”

Virginia seems to have a disorder where no amount of research or facts can break through. “There’s not a lack of data of what happens with states post-regulation,” Pedini said. “We have that in abundance now. It’s more the ability to maintain the current systems that currently profit from maintaining marijuana as illegal. It’s an easy arrest. It’s a way to search people’s cars and homes. Notably, its a way to funnel a significant amount of dollars into the state’s substance abuse program.”

Another inconvenient truth from the 2017 Virginia State Police report? African-Americans in Virginia are arrested for marijuana possession at a rate that is more than three times the rate of whites. Unfortunately, the ACLU has found in their research that this isn’t just a problem in Virginia. Nationally, blacks are 3.73 times more likely to be arrested for marijuana than whites despite usage being equal between races.

Pedini also discussed the state’s substance abuse program, as it is inexorably linked to the national opioid crisis. She said that in Virginia, “Marijuana possession alone is enough to have you ordered to rehab” if you go through the first-time offenders’ program. “Sadly, you’re going to take up the space in that program for someone who has an opiate or heroin use disorder,” she said. “We could immediately double access to treatment for opiate use disorder by ending the courtroom-to-rehab pipeline for pot possession.”

Pedini said predicting what we will see in Virginia in ten years time is difficult since it depends so much on how federal policy shifts and who controls the state legislature. “A shift in federal policy, regardless of controlling party, is likely enough to push Virginia in the direction of regulating adult use,” she said. “We take a lot of money from the federal government and we’re never going to do anything that inhibits our ability to receive those federal dollars.”

Finally, when asked what we as citizens can do to bring this change more quickly, Pedini bluntly stated, “Vote” before the question was even finished. Is it really that simple? Yes.

“If you keep re-electing people who don’t support the reforms you want, you aren’t going to get the reforms that you want,” Pedini said.

If your priorities line up with the work that Virginia NORML is doing, there’s only one thing to do this November: get out and vote. Find out which candidates support marijuana legislation reform in Virginia and make your voice heard.

Cover Image by Thisis Notme

Ganjapreneurs: The Weed Game Between Washington DC and Virginia

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It’s crazy to think that just 200 yards can be the difference between getting locked up and being fined for enjoying a fatty with friends while overlooking the Potomac. With criminal marijuana laws going up in smoke back in February 2015 due to Initiative 71 – which legalized marijuana for those over 21 – there has been tremendous attention centered around the various distribution loopholes and how that impacts everyone along the DC and Virginia border.

Let’s get one thing straight though, Washington DC is not the wild west of weed. While it has been decriminalized, a person still can’t smoke on public property or sell openly. Nonetheless, some of the district’s more aspirational potheads have started to get pretty creative on circumventing the laws; discovering those loopholes to turn what was once an illegal practice into a legitimate business.

Initiative 71 Campaign Poster

For this 4/20, RVA Mag sat down with some people about their experiences with weed in Northern Virginia (NOVA) since the law in DC has been passed – given their proximity to one another.

Unsurprisingly, they requested to remain anonymous, so we will just call them Cannabis Carl and Stanley the Stoner.  

“There is no doubt the vibe around smoking weed is different outside of the border since its decriminalization in DC,” said Carl, discussing the proximity issue. He went on to say that nobody in the weed game is still 100 percent comfortable with the ambiguities “Now that the laws are more accepting of weed in DC, cops digression has noticeably shifted to be more lenient in response.”  

Yet there are differing perceptions in NOVA. Stanley spoke to RVA Mag about police stalking hot-boxed cars with Virginia license plates right outside of the District’s boundaries – just waiting to pounce. This speaks to containment and a desire to prevent any kind of cross-border ‘weed-culture bleed’ into the surrounding counties.

“Because it is Washington DC, feds are going to be super narky regardless of what the situation is. Weed is still illegal federally obviously, so you will see the saddest of cops itching to bust someone making a wrong turn and ending up in a federal zone with some weed on them,” said Stanley. “It is most definitely not the same as when other more liberal states had originally decriminalized the drug,”

Carl and Stanley both agreed that the cultural experience of smoking has definitely shifted since Initiative 71. “The thing to do back in the day was to sneak around to our favorite secret outdoor spots, said Carl, adding that the Georgetown bridge was his favorite spot given its “sketch factor.” He went on to say that everyone in NOVA now goes into DC to check out the new vendors, which are essentially “pop up shops where home growers showcase their product similar to a farmers market.”

Even as DC has progressed into the 21st Century, it is still important to remember that marijuana laws in Virginia are exactly the same. This means everyone repping the DMV will still not be saved from the DEA. According to Jenn Michelle Pedini, executive director of Virginia NORML, “Washington, DC’s Initiative 71 has had no impact on criminal justice reform regarding marijuana policy.” (Check)

When a bill gets introduced, it must be approved by a committee and sometimes even a subcommittee before making it to the full Senate or House for a floor vote. Senior committee members perceive their legislative districts and the District of Columbia quite differently and are not swayed by the District’s loosened marijuana laws. According to Pedini, it is not the legislature as a whole that prevents marijuana policy reform, rather it is due primarily to the majority of committee members who are former or current prosecutors.

Lack of knowledge and the surrounding social stigmas regarding the plant essentially leaves these officials to act as gatekeepers, preventing these marijuana bills from advancing to a full floor vote.

But keep your hopes high as a kite because Pedini predicts that if and when these bills finally reach the Senate and House floors, they are more than likely to pass in our favor.

Nonetheless, RVA Mag talked to a couple dealers from the NOVA area, who once again preferred to remain anonymous, to dig a little deeper into what sort of backlash Initiative 71 has created for the underground weed distribution industry – both inside and outside of District lines.

“Most of the people I serve are still in high school,” said one of the dealers. He went on to say that Initiative 71 doesn’t impact their business because the kids aren’t of age, but they “have such big networks that weed is almost as accessible as water for them.” This means that a lot of people in NOVA would rather stick with the weed they know as opposed to travelling to DC to pay for a more expensive product.

“I did notice a decrease in the older people I used to serve, like businessmen and parents, as well as the guys that pick up weight more frequently and really harp on consistent quality,” said the dealer. “Which makes sense to me because the inflated DC prices are worth a more convenient and legal transaction given their careers and families.”

Proximity doesn’t end in NOVA though, Richmond dealers are also making the trek to the nation’s capital to explore new products and take advantage of the loopholes. After sitting down with a local dealer, “Patrick the Pusher,” over some “coffee”, he described his entire process – from the acquisition of the product – to the curation and transportation across the border, right up until it reaches the hands of the customer.

“It’s much easier to get my shit in Richmond, but when I do make DC runs, I use wheresweed.com,” Patrick said. This app allows a user to see a list of all the specialized vendors in DC, along with a menu of their product.

“Each vendor is a little different, but after you make your selection and put in a delivery address, it usually takes around two hours for them to respond and deliver, which is just enough time for me to make my way up there,” he added.  

The Wheres Weed App

The weed game is also a business, something not lost on Patric, “Like any business review on Yelp, their response time, efficiency, and professionalism is a direct reference to the quality of their product and made me feel like it was less quality.”

In the end, it is the loopholes that many people exploit in order to get their stuff.

For starters, the District does not permit the distribution of marijuana in exchange for monetary compensation, but there is nothing stating that you can’t just give it away.  Most vendors sell a sticker or t-shirt that comes with a complimentary nug as a “free” gift depending on the value of whatever you buy.

Even for something like wheresweed.com, it is only available for people living in DC, but there is nothing stopping an outsider from putting a public parking lot or intersection as their home address.

“I feel a sense of pride buying local,” said Patrick. “It almost reminds me of grocery shopping online, it’s really that easy. I have never used the same service twice, but that’s not to protect me, I hadn’t even considered getting in trouble, it is more just to explore my options.”

Although vendor prices are slightly inflated compared to street prices, it is definitely more consistent. While you can still get great quality weed on the street outside of DC, there are no certainties that it is going to be good every time. That being said, you can’t get more than one ounce at a time, which makes it harder for people looking to resale in Virginia.  

Initiative 71 seems like a win-win for everyone, fewer people are getting incarcerated, the economy is growing, and people are happier and higher than ever. This happening in the Nation’s capital also has a certain kind of poetic justice to it. Times are definitely changing.

Although the weed game is still highly unregulated, Virginians are still finding their way around the law. It is to early to tell if this newly adopted democratic “weetiquette” will immerse itself into the Commonwealth or trigger a greater containment effort by law enforcement. But until then, happy 4/20 everyone, and be sure to fix yourself a nice bowl of Weedies and milk before bed.

Photo By: Vivienne Lee