Richmond, VA: State lawmakers have advanced several bills amending state marijuana laws to the desk of Republican Glenn Youngkin.
Among these is Senate Bill 696, which provides a pathway for those currently incarcerated for marijuana-related felony offenses to have their sentences modified. There are approximately 400 people imprisoned in Virginia for marijuana violations, according to Department of Corrections data from 2022.
House and Senate lawmakers also approved bills (SB 115 | HB 833) amending the state’s child neglect statute so that the use of cannabis by a parent or a child’s guardian is no longer considered to be prima facie evidence of a crime.
The bills state that “a child shall not be considered an abused or neglected child” solely because the person responsible for their care lawfully consumes cannabis. It also provides that no parent or guardian should be denied child custody or visitation rights based solely upon their cannabis use.
NORML’s Development Director, JM Pedini, who also serves as the Executive Director of Virginia NORML, testified in support of the bill – opining that courts and other state agencies have historically cited parents’ medical marijuana patient status as a reason for either withholding child custody or visitation rights.
Last year, Maryland’s Gov. Wes Moore signed similar legislation into law. That law took effect on July 1, 2023.
Additional legislation (HB 149 | SB 391) advanced to the Governor’s desk expands the state’s existing law, which restricts most employers from taking “adverse employment actions” for an employee’s state-legal use of medical cannabis products, to include explicit protections for public employees.
All three measures, in addition to separate legislation regulating the retail sale of marijuana to adults, now await action from Gov. Youngkin. If the Governor takes no formal action, the bills become law without his signature.
Historically, Gov. Youngkin has expressed little support for legislation liberalizing the state’s marijuana policies.
Additional information is available from Virginia NORML.