Virginia lawmakers have formally passed a budget bill that includes provisions to legalize recreational marijuana sales.
On Monday, the Senate and House of Delegates adopted Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s (D) proposed amendments to the legislation that they had given initial approval to last week. Because lawmakers accepted her suggested changes in full, the measure has now been formally enacted into law and doesn’t require any further action from the governor.
Spanberger’s amendments, submitted on Friday, did not include alterations to provisions to legalize adult-use cannabis sales.
Nor did they address the concerns of advocates who had urged her to cancel out a section that will 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.
The budget bill contains provisions that advocates generally support to legalize recreational marijuana sales—but it will 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 last week released new enforcement stats that they obtained through the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) that they say
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