Governor Abigail Spanberger wants to delay the opening of new retail marijuana locations six months. Instead of opening in January of next year, they wouldn’t start sales until next summer. She is also calling for new criminal penalties, raising concerns from advocates about re-criminalization.
Governor Abigail Spanberger is suggesting several new criminal penalties for the possession and use of marijuana. For example, smoking in public is currently a civil offense punishable with a fine of up to $25. But Chelsea Higgs Wise at the advocacy group Marijuana Justice says she's worried about the governor's amendment to make that a class four misdemeanor.
"That's going to impact people that live in public housing that are not allowed to have legal substances in their home," Higgs Wise says. "It's going to impact people with no shelter because where are they supposed to consume? And now, we are creating more criminal penalties and therefore more criminals just because people are low income or do not have homes."
JM Pedini at the marijuana advocacy group Virginia NORML says some of the new criminal penalties will target consumers.
"Today, the illegal sale of marijuana is criminalized in Virginia but not the purchase of illegal marijuana," says Pedini. "This would roll that back and recriminalize consumers."
Members of the General Assembly who want to reject these new criminal penalties are facing a choice: they can reject her amendments and send back their version of the bill, which is a gamble because she could veto it altogether. Or they can attempt a more complicated maneuver to sever individual amendments they don't like and reject those while approving the rest of the bill. The House and Senate are expected to reconvene on April 22nd.
