A U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) senator has filed a pair of bills to legalize marijuana in the territory and facilitate expungements for people with prior cannabis convictions.
Sen. Janelle Sarauw (I) filed the legislation months after Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. (D) included a cannabis legalization revenue in a budget proposal he sent to lawmakers and indicated that he might convene a special session to enact the policy change. He’s criticized Sarauw, who is running for lieutenant governor this year, for delaying the introduction of her bill.
The senator said on Monday that counsel for the U.S. territory’s unicameral legislature completed its review of her legalization and expungement bills earlier this month, clearing the way for their filing.
“It has been a very cumbersome process to get these bills to where they are today,” she said in a press release, adding that the legalization measure was crafted in a way that’s meant to promote equity and incorporate lessons learned from legal marijuana states like Colorado, which USVI lawmakers visited for a cannabis summit this year.
“To ignore those lessons would be foolish,” Sarauw said. “As a political scientist, but most importantly as an elected representative of the people, it is my job
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