As Virginia’s governor weighs changes to budget legislation that lawmakers approved this week, marijuana reform advocates are urging her to cancel out a section that would dramatically increase penalties for public consumption of cannabis—which they say will be enforced on a racially discriminatory manner based on new data they have obtained.
The budget bill passed by the legislature contains provisions that advocates generally support to legalize recreational marijuana sales—but it would 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 on Wednesday released new enforcement stats that they obtained through the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) that they say “proves that legalization has not ended racially biased marijuana policing” in the state.
The advocates gave the data to Christopher Newport University’s Center for Crime, Equity and Justice Research and Policy, which conducted an analysis.
The state information shows that since noncommercial cannabis legalization took effect in Virginia in 2021, 185 white people and 179 Black people have been charged with public consumption.
“When analyzing these totals against the overall racial breakdown in Virginia,
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