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.
By Ashna Khanna and Chelsea Higgs Wise
Virginia politics is dominated right now by talk of legalizing marijuana. Earlier this year, we took the leap into âdecriminalizingâ the drug, and legalization seems like the next logical step.
But this conversation shouldnât be focused on people who want to enjoy recreational marijuana. It should focus on the hundreds of Black and brown Virginians who are suffering the consequences of consuming or possessing something that now incurs a $25 civil penalty.
It should focus on the thousands of Black and brown Virginians who have trouble with stable employment and housing, or bounce in and out of the criminal legal system, because marijuana laws have been used as a weapon against Black and brown people like us for decades.
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.