Marijuana legalization advancing after Senate committee vote

ROANOKE, Va. – Moving closer to the possibility of legalizing marijuana in the Community, a Senate committee advances the legislation by 8 to 7 votes.

The Senate Rehabilitation and Social Services Committee on Friday approved an opt-out clause for localities to have marijuana businesses operating in their jurisdictions.

A concern for the Virginia Municipal League, as they were pushing for municipalities to choose to participate.

“We believe that this is a delicate issue and should be done by enabling localities to choose. Instead of demanding, they must choose not to participate through a potentially time-consuming and expensive process, ”said Virginia Municipal League Mitchell Smiley.

Some panelists say that marijuana sales should be treated in the same way as alcohol deals.

“Virginia currently offers an alcohol exclusion mechanism and that should be no different,” said NORML Virginia executive director Jenn Michelle Pedini.

Typically, the opt-out procedure means that jurisdictions need a referendum, which is a lengthy process, Smiley points out.

“This would require 10% of citizens in a locality to sign a petition and submit it to a certain court,” he said.

However, Smiley understands that there may be changes in how the deactivation would work.

When it comes to regulation, the bill originally suggested that the Virginia Liquor Control Authority, along with a small advisory board, regulate commercial marijuana.

Pedini prefers an independent cannabis agency not just to regulate, but “to deal with the countless equity provisions that would need to be implemented”.

The panel recommended the formation of a new regulatory agency with quarterly progress updates, but this could delay the governor’s goal of legalizing sales by 2023 for another year.

The Senate committee also rejected the proposal to eliminate home-grown marijuana, a measure that Pedini agrees with.

“Many Virgos will be left out of the process without any reasonable measure of access to safe cannabis products in their area, particularly with the possibility of a local opt-out,” they said.

The bill will be forwarded to the Senate Judiciary Committee for review.