Legislation Filed in Virginia to Legalize Marijuana
A legislative proposal that would legalize marijuana for those 21 and older, while decriminalizing it for those under 21, has been filed in Virginia’s House of Representatives.
House Bill 2371 was filed by Delegate Steve Heretick (D) along with four cosponsors. The measure would remove all criminal penalties for the personal possession of marijuana for those 21 and older, while legalizing marijuana retail outlets. These outlets would be taxed at 9.7% in addition to the state’s current sales tax. Around 2/3rds of the tax revenue would go to the general fund, with the remainder going to public education.
According to the bill’s official summary, it “also decriminalizes marijuana possession for persons under 21 years of age and provides a civil penalty of no more than $50 for a first violation, $100 for a second violation, and $250 for a third or subsequent violation.”
A separate but similar legalization measure, House Bill 2373, was also filed recently in the Virginia House of Representatives. Both House Bill 2373 and House Bill 2371 have been assigned to the Committee for Courts of Justice Subcommittee #1.
For the full text of House Bill 2371, click here – for House Bill 2373, click here.
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Great information out there, it is okay that marijuana should be legalized only for individuals who are above 21 years because if used wrongly, it can cause one to be addicted.
James
This has already been killed in committee, by the way, along with several reasonable decrim bills. Virginia is very far away from legalization still, as it would have to be done through legislation, is still a party-line issue in VA essentially, and the relevant committees are majority Repub. so these keep getting killed in committee…