The state’s legislative chambers overcame differences to pass a compromise bill on Feb.
Following the legislature’s passage, Jenn Michelle Pedini, Virginia’s executive director for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws , said that timeline wasn’t good enough and she hoped to continue working to accelerate specific facets of legalization.
As a result, adults 21 years and older will be allowed to possess up to 1 ounce of cannabis and grow up to four plants per household starting July 1, 2021—speeding up the timeline 2 1/2 years.
“As of July 1, 2021—who’s counting, but 71 days from now—Virginia will no longer police adults for possessing small amounts of marijuana,” Northam said during his signing ceremony Wednesday.
The social equity implications of ending prohibition were mentioned by everyone who spoke during the governor’s signing ceremony, including Democratic Sens.
Representing the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion as the governor’s lead deputy chief diversity officer, Alaysia Black Hackett said, “This law establishes social equity as a pillar and major priority.
When Democrats flipped both chambers in 2019, they gained control of both the legislature and governor’s office for the first time in more than two decades.
2, 2021, by Christopher Newport University’s Watson Center for Civic Leadership showed that 68% of registered voters in Virginia, including majorities of Democrats and Republicans, support adult-use cannabis legalization.
The five-member board of directors will institute the number of licensees, which cannot exceed 400 retailers, 25 wholesalers, 450 cultivators and 60 product manufacturers.
Many of the provisions in the roughly 300-page bill are subject to a reenactment, meaning a second review and vote by members of the General Assembly in 2022.
“Over the past two months, I have answered more times than I can count, ‘How did Virginia just legalize cannabis?’” said Pedini, who also serves as NORML’s development director.
“I’ve also mentioned countless times how Virginia is the single most prepared state to ever undertake a legalization effort.
The new daily sales average is nearly a 30% increase from the previous 23-day reporting period that ended on March 11, according to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
According to Herald-Mail Media, the new rules come after the Maryland General Assembly suggested legalizing adult-use cannabis in Maryland.
“I live just outside of Chicago, and as I like to say, the city is just starting to turn back on as far as folks coming from a destination standpoint that doesn’t live here,” Butler said.
The spike in sales affected the dispensary and wholesale side of things.
“We are lucky in that we were able to fulfill orders for the most part, but when you have spikes in demand that are that high, we definitely felt it at the facility level.
“I’m really proud of what we have done as a collaborative team to be able to manage the scheduling of these deliveries,” Butler said.
“Our sales overall have been very strong month over month, but March was exceptional,” Butler said.
“It’s looking great thus far,” Butler said.
WASHINGTON, D.C., April 20, 2021 – PRESS RELEASE – The Federal Cannabis Regulations Working Group released its Principles for FederalCannabis Regulations and Reform, outlining what a federal regulatory framework—grounded in justice and social equity—should look like.
Throughout a series of meetings and in-depth conversations, the group—made up of cannabis state regulators, public health professionals, criminal justice reform advocates, civil rights attorneys, people working with directly impacted communities in the cannabis industry, re-entry advocates, academics and an expert involved in Canada’s cannabis regulation—has identified key principles that should guide the development of federal cannabis regulation policies.
“We have already seen the way industry is jockeying for the opportunity to regulate themselves, and it is critical that advocates—who are representing the interest of those who have been most impacted by prohibition, and those who are in the best position to prevent future harms—set the agenda for how federal cannabis regulation should work,” Adesuyi said.
While the MarijuanaOpportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act, passed by the House last session, addressed the impacts of criminalization in a comprehensive way, in its original form it did not address regulation.
The group’s recommendations will be vetted by a lengthy list of subject matter experts across sectors and issue areas, including medical doctors, academics, researchers, immigration attorneys, labor law experts, directly impacted individuals and leaders, and more.
Big corporations have the most ‘advocates.’ From my perspective, the key aspect of a good federal legalization bill is to limit domination of the market by big corporations to allow for the support of small businesses, social equity programs and alternative ownership models such as cooperatives.
As a national reentry legal services organization, we see the disastrous, often lifelong consequences of the war on drugs every day in the experiences of the individual clients and communities we serve.
“Canada was the first G20 country to legalize cannabis and has shown that legal access can create a vibrant and safe cannabis market.