Virginia’s governor has proposed amendments to budget legislation that lawmakers approved this week, but those changes don’t include alterations to provisions that would legalize recreational marijuana sales.
Nor do they address the concerns of advocates who had urged her to cancel out a section that would dramatically increase penalties for public consumption of cannabis—which they say will be enforced in a racially discriminatory manner based on new state data they obtained.
Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D) on Friday sent lawmakers her suggested amendments to the budget bill, which will require the House of Delegates and Senate to reconvene to approve them before the overall legislation and its marijuana provisions can be enacted ahead of a July 1 deadline for the budget. Lawmakers are expected to do so on Monday.
The budget bill passed by the legislature contains provisions that advocates generally support to legalize recreational marijuana sales—but it would also increase the current $25 fine for using cannabis in a public place by 900 percent to $250—a spike that advocates are calling a “poverty penalty.”
A coalition of advocacy groups led by Marijuana Justice this week released new enforcement stats that they obtained through the Virginia Freedom of Information Act
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