Virginia is poised to decriminalize marijuana
Virginia seems poised to decriminalize marijuana.
The Democratic-controlled Virginia Senate approved a bill on Tuesday that would eliminate jail time for simple marijuana possession, leaving only a civil penalty with a fine in place for the first offense. On Monday, the Virginia House approved a largely similar bill to decriminalize cannabis.
The two legislative bodies will now have to reconcile the small differences between their bills in conference. Gov. Ralph Northam has vowed to sign a decriminalization bill into law, previously making the issue a priority for the year.
That’s different from marijuana legalization. Under decriminalization, penalties carrying jail or prison time are removed, but lower-level penalties, like a fine, remain in place and sales remain illegal. Under legalization, all penalties for marijuana possession are removed, and sales are typically allowed.
Some opponents of legalization favor decriminalization as a step toward peeling back America’s harsh drug and criminal justice policies. They see “tough on crime” policies as too punitive and costly, but they don’t want to resort to full legalization, which they fear would make pot too accessible in the US and allow big corporations to sell and market the drug irresponsibly.
The concern for legalization advocates is that decriminalization keeps the ban on selling marijuana, which means users wouldn’t have a legal source for the drug, and criminal organizations would therefore still have a source of revenue that they can use for violent operations around the world. The fines, while less punitive than arrests or prison time, can also cause problems, since they’re often applied in a racially disparate manner.
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/2/11/21080223/virginia-marijuana-legalization-decriminalization-bill-law
