“If Black Virginians only make up 19 percent, how is it that they are 47.7 percent of those who are receiving the citations?”
By Markus Schmidt, Virginia Mercury
Youth advocates are urging Virginia lawmakers to reconsider stiffer penalties for public marijuana use before the state opens its legal adult-use market next summer, warning that the changes could place a disproportionate burden on young people, their families and Black communities.
The maximum civil penalty for consuming or offering marijuana in public is set to rise from $25 to $250 on July 1, 2027, the same day retail sales are scheduled to begin. A second offense also carries a $250 fine and requires substance-use education or treatment, or both, if available, while a third or subsequent offense is a Class 4 misdemeanor.
Valerie Slater, executive director of RISE for Youth, told the Joint Commission to Oversee the Transition of the Commonwealth into a Cannabis Retail Market earlier last week that the higher fine would take effect as marijuana enforcement involving young people increasingly begins in schools.
“What’s really troubling is how increasingly the enforcement has moved into the schoolhouse while we are also looking at an increased impact on Black adults,” Slater
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