The Virginia General Assembly approved legislation Wednesday that will make marijuana legal on July 1.
The votes make Virginia the 16th state to legalize the drug and the first in the South to take the step, though retail sales won’t begin until Jan. 1, 2024.
“The time has come for our state to legalize marijuana,” said House Majority Charniele Herring, D-Alexandria, who sponsored the bill, arguing the revised legislation ensures “that while we’re doing the complicated work of standing up a commercial market, we aren’t delaying immediate reforms that will make our commonwealth more equitable for all Virginians.”
The product of months of negotiation and last-minute amendments, the final legislation is complex and, in some key areas, ambiguous about what will and won’t be allowed.
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Assembly votes to legalize marijuana in Virginia
Adopted just before the General Assembly adjourned Saturday, the legislation delays key decisions about how the Virginiaâs marijuana marketplace will operate until next year. Gov. Northam is grateful to the General Assembly for their hard work, and looks forward to continuing to improve this legislation. Alena Yarmosky, governorâs spokeswoman
By Ned Oliver
Lawmakers in the Virginia House and Senate voted Saturday to legalize recreational marijuana beginning in 2024, but opted to delay key decisions about how the new marketplace will operate until next year.
âThis moves us in a direction to strike down and address institutional barriers, over policing, over arrests and over convictions of African Americans, who do not use marijuana at a higher rate than our White counterparts, but we seem to get the brunt of criminal convictions,â said House Majority Leader Charniele Herring, citing a state study that fo
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