Mr. Hardy
Five years ago, after the General Assembly legalized the growing of marijuanaâs cousin, industrial hemp, veteran grower Leroy Hardy Jr. sought to be among the people chosen to plant the first test plots to help interested farmers get the most from the crop.
He was dismayed that he and other minority agricultural producers were shut out of that testing process and had to wait two to three years to gain a license to produce hemp.
âSo far as I am aware, no one who looked like me received any seedsâ to plant during the initial research phase, said Mr. Hardy, a combination of African-American and Native American ancestry who sits on the council of the Nottoway Indian Tribe.
Virginia Mercury
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Del. Don Scott, D-Portsmouth, said it wasn’t just a pungent odor that struck him during a recent visit to the city’s newly opened medical marijuana dispensary.
“I saw all that marijuana and I was looking over my shoulder waiting on the feds to run in and get us all because there was so much cannabis in there,” said Scott, a lawyer, who contrasted the scene to a court hearing three days later where he witnessed “a young brother get sentenced to five years for possession with intent to distribute marijuana” a disparate approach to the drug he called absurd and hypocritical.
Del. Don Scott, D-Portsmouth, said it wasnât just a pungent odor that struck him during a recent visit to the cityâs newly opened medical marijuana dispensary.
âI saw all that marijuana and I was looking over my shoulder waiting on the feds to run in and get us all because there was so much cannabis in there,â said Scott, a lawyer, who contrasted the scene to a court hearing three days later where he witnessed âa young brother get sentenced to five years for possession with intent to distribute marijuanaâ â a disparate approach to the drug he called absurd and hypocritical.