Virginia governor faces calls to change bill that includes ‘poverty penalty’ for public marijuana use
Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger is facing calls to axe a section of a proposed budget amendment that would increase the penalties for using marijuana in public.
On Friday, Spanberger, a Democrat, sent her suggested amendments to an upcoming budget bill to the state’s House of Delegates and Senate for approval. They are expected to address the measure on Monday, according to Marijuana Moment.
The bill contains provisions that support the legalization of recreational marijuana sales, but also increase the penalty for using marijuana in public. The current fine for using cannabis in a public place is $25, but the proposed fine would increase that by 900 percent to $250.
Critics of the fine are calling the fine a “poverty penalty.”
A group called Marijuana Justice — a coalition of marijuana advocacy organizations — obtained enforcement cannabis enforcement stats through a FOIA request that, it argues, “proves that legalization has not ended racially biased marijuana policing.”
The group argues that Spanberger’s new fine will be levied more often against Black people than white people. According to the FOIA data, since 2021, 195 white people and 179 Black people have been charged with public consumption of cannabis. Based on the state’s population demographics, that means that Black people are more than three times as likely to be charged as white people.
Advocates, including the ACLU of Virginia, are warning that the penalty increase will “deepen racial and economic disparities.”
“Higher fines and penalties for low-level marijuana offenses are not neutral,” the organizations wrote in a letter to Spanberger and legislators. “They are enforced disproportionately against Black and brown communities, create debt that low-income people cannot afford and can trigger cascading harms in immigration, housing, education and employment.”
Chelsea Higgs Wise, the co-founder and executive director of cannabis advocacy organization Marijuana Justice, penned an editorial in the Richmond Times-Dispatch urging the governor to reconsider the penalty.
“We must be clear about who bears the weight of this policy. A $250 fine is a minor inconvenience for the wealthy, but for renters, residents of federal public housing, and those experiencing homelessness, it is a catastrophic economic barrier,” she wrote.
She cited a report from the Commonwealth Institute that found there was a ” strong, statistically significant relationship between the amount of fines and fees assessments per capita and the share of the population that is Black.”
“In 2019, Virginia courts assessed $105 million in fines and fees against Black Virginians, 33% of the state’s total, despite Black residents being only 19% of the population,” she wrote.
In April, Spanberger told reporters that she was being cautious in introducing legalized marijuana markets in Virginia due in part to advice she received from governors of other states that have made recreational cannabis use legal.
“I’ve spent a lot of time talking to governors and folks from other states about those who do have a legalized recreational cannabis market, retail market,” the governor said. “Every one of them said some version of, ‘Make sure you get it right the first time and don’t rush it because there will be things that come up.’”
