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Virginia\u2019s legislature took action on a series of marijuana bills on a key deadline Tuesday\u2014advancing proposals to legalize cannabis sales<\/a>, provide a pathway to resentencing for prior marijuana convictions and allow medical cannabis access in hospitals for seriously ill patients.<\/p>\n On Tuesday\u2019s crossover deadline to move bills from one chamber to the other, the House of Delegates and Senate passed differing versions of marijuana sales legislation that will now be sent to the other body for consideration. The House approved its measure from Del. Paul Krizek (D) in a 65-32 vote, and the Senate moved its proposal from Sen. Lashrecse Aird (D) in a vote of 21-19.<\/p>\n Krizek said ahead of the vote that his bill is \u201cabout fixing a status quo that it\u2019s not working.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIn fact, it\u2019s a mess right now. Adult possession of cannabis is legal, but sales are unregulated, and that means no testing, no standards and no oversight whatsoever,\u201d he said. \u201cThis bill will replace that gray market\u2014it\u2019s a $5 billion illegal market out there\u2014with a regulated system that protects public health with testing, labeling, packaging and strong enforcement and penalties, and keeps products away from minors.\u201d<\/p>\n Aird, for her part, quipped on the Senate floor on Tuesday that she sought to \u201cclear up the smoke\u201d around her legislation by explaining its provisions.<\/p>\n The Senate had already advanced a cannabis resentencing measure<\/a>, sponsored by Senate President Pro Tem Louise Lucas (D), on third reading on Monday. And on Tuesday, the House companion from Del. Rozia Henson, Jr. (D) received final approval in that chamber, with members voting 63-34 to cross it over.<\/p>\n While both House and Senate marijuana sales measures are aimed at giving adults a legal means of buying cannabis, the possession and home cultivation of which was legalized in the state in 2021, there are several substantive differences that will need to be resolved before the reform potentially goes to the governor\u2019s desk.<\/p>\n Those differences between the chambers\u2019s versions include the start date for legal sales, cannabis tax rates and conversion fees for current medical marijuana businesses to participate in the recreational market and the form of the regulatory body that will oversee the industry, among other issues.<\/p>\n With respect to the Senate bill, members recently clashed in committee about amendments to the body\u2019s version that would have added new penalties for illegal cannabis activity.<\/p>\n The amendments at issue from the Courts of Justice Committee included penalties for consumers who buy from unlicensed sources, the recriminalization of cannabis possession by people under 21 and making sales a class 1 misdemeanor for a first offense and a crime punishable by mandatory jail time for a second offense. As revised, the bill would have also raised the penalty for unlicensed cultivation to a felony punishable by up to five years in jail and made it a felony to transport with intent to distribute cannabis across state lines.<\/p>\n But the Finance and Appropriations Committee reversed the amendments last week amid pressure from a coalition of advocacy groups that sent a letter to senators\u00a0saying they undermined the \u201cintent\u201d of the legislation<\/a>\u00a0and the \u201cwill of the people\u201d by adding criminal penalties for certain cannabis-related activity.<\/p>\n Despite some key differences, both chambers\u2019 commercial sales bills largely align with recommendations released in December by the legislature\u2019s\u00a0Joint Commission to Oversee the Transition of the Commonwealth into a Cannabis Retail Market<\/a>.<\/p>\n Since legalizing cannabis possession and home cultivation in 2021,\u00a0Virginia lawmakers have worked to establish a commercial marijuana market<\/a>\u2014only to have those efforts consistently stalled under former Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R), who twice vetoed measures to enact it that were sent to his desk by the legislature.<\/p>\n Here are the key details of the Virginia marijuana sales legalization legislation,\u00a0SB 542<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0HB 642<\/a>:<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cNow that we\u2019ve passed the critical midway point, lawmakers can get the bills into conference and negotiate an answer to the question that Virginians are asking: \u2018After five long years of waiting, when can sales finally begin?\u2019\u201d JM Pedini, development director for the advocacy group NORML and executive director for Virginia NORML, told Marijuana Moment on Tuesday.<\/p>\n Newly sworn-in\u00a0Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D) supports legalizing adult-use marijuana sales<\/a>.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, House and Senate lawmakers also advanced separate legislation to provide resentencing relief for people with prior marijuana convictions<\/a>.<\/p>\n The legislation would create a process by which people who are incarcerated or on community supervision for certain felony offenses involving the possession, manufacture, selling or distribution of marijuana could receive an automatic hearing to consider modification of their sentences.<\/p>\n The measure applies to people whose convictions or adjudications are for conduct that occurred prior to July 1, 2021, when a state law legalizing personal possession and home cultivation of marijuana went into effect.<\/p>\n Also on Tuesday, the House passed<\/a> on third reading a bill to enact what\u2019s known as \u201cRyan\u2019s law,\u201d a policy change providing that patients with terminal illnesses who are registered cannabis patients can access medical marijuana at health facilities such as hospitals. The chamber approved that legislation, HB 75<\/a> from Del. Karen Keys-Gamarra (D), in a 95-1 vote.<\/p>\n It would require healthcare facilities to establish policies \u201cto address circumstances under which an eligible patient would be permitted to use medical cannabis.\u201d<\/p>\n Under the House legislation, healthcare facilities could suspend medical cannabis allowances if a federal agency such as the Department of Justice or Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services takes enforcement action on the issue or issues a rule or notification expressly prohibiting use of medical cannabis in health facilities.<\/p>\n The Senate passed differing legislation concerning the use of medical cannabis in health care facilities<\/a> earlier this month.<\/p>\n \u2014 Meanwhile, the Virginia House last week approved a bill to\u00a0protect the rights of parents who use marijuana in compliance with state law<\/a>.<\/p>\n Under the proposal from Del. Nadarius Clark (D), possession of use of cannabis by a parent or guardian on its own \u201cshall not serve as a basis to deem a child abused or neglected unless other facts establish that such possession or consumption causes or creates a risk of physical or mental injury to the child.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cA person\u2019s legal possession or consumption of substances authorized under [the state\u2019s marijuana law] alone shall not serve as a basis to restrict custody or visitation unless other facts establish that such possession or consumption is not in the best interest of the child,\u201d the text of the bill,\u00a0HB 942, states.<\/p>\n Separately, the Virginia Department of Labor and Industry recently published a new outlining workplace protections for cannabis consumers<\/a>.<\/p>\n The post Virginia Lawmakers Pass Bills To Legalize Marijuana Sales, Resentence Past Convictions And Allow Medical Cannabis In Hospitals<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Virginia\u2019s legislature took action on a series of marijuana bills on a key deadline Tuesday\u2014advancing proposals to legalize cannabis sales, provide a pathway to resentencing for prior marijuana convictions and allow medical cannabis access in hospitals for seriously ill patients. On Tuesday\u2019s crossover deadline to move bills from one chamberContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":85455,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85454"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85454"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85454\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85456,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85454\/revisions\/85456"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: Virginia Lawmakers Pass Bills To Legalize Marijuana Sales, Resentence Past Convictions And Allow Medical Cannabis In Hospitals<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"