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Virginia isn’t very friendly when it comes to cannabis. Less than a half-ounce can get you up to a year in jail and $2,500 in fines and anything over a half-ounce nets you anywhere from a mandatory year in jail to 10 years. Even paraphernalia can get you a year in the pokey.
But a proposal from Virginia state Sen. Adam Ebbin would ease some of that by decriminalizing an ounce or less of pot and dropping the fine to $100. The bill would also lessen the penalties for people caught growing six plants or less – though that would still remain illegal.

Timophey Tkachik/Flickr.


When smuggling a stash of marijuana through the foothills of West Virginia, it is highly advisable to eliminate any and all bizarre variables from the equation that could possibly contribute to an accident or an unsavory run in with the law… or both. Just ask 20-year-old Seth Grim, who was arrested last Friday for possession of marijuana after his dog caused him to lose control of his Ford Explorer and wipe out along a stretch of highway — exposing the unusual contents of his SUV.

U.S. Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Virginia.


Rep. Morgan Griffith, a Republican from Virginia, has introduced a bill this week in Congress that would reclassify the plant from a Schedule I controlled substance with no medical value according to the feds to a less restrictive Schedule II status. The move, he says, will allow doctors to legally prescribe cannabis as well as give protection to states around the country with medical laws in place.

Virginia is for medical marijuana lovers, with 84 percent of registered voters polled in a recent Quinnipiac University Polling Institute study saying they want legal access for sick Virginians.
But support for medical marijuana doesn’t equal support for the recreational use of cannabis, with 46 percent of people in the same poll agreeing that adult use be tolerated. That could shift in the next few years, however. Seventy-one percent of voters aged 18 to 29 said they want to legalize cannabis.

Earlier this week we told you about a West Virginia state delegate’s latest quest for medical cannabis. Even though he wrote and sponsors it, Del. Mike Maypenny regards the bill as a long shot due to lawmakers who simply don’t want to consider a natural, safe alternative for sick, suffering patients in their state.
But if there’s money to be made in cannabis while keeping it illegal, it seems lawmakers are all over it. State Sen. Clark Barnes openly admitted as much yesterday when he hinted that the state should grow cannabis and sell it to states where it is legal. Apparently nobody has told him that interstate commerce off of cannabis remains a pretty high-priority federal crime.

There’s growing talk about a medical marijuana bill being submitted in West Virginia in the coming months, with Del. Mike Manypenny announcing last week that he will make a fourth attempt at winning over his fellow lawmakers.
While the bill does face considerable challenges in the conservative state, Manypenny’s last bill in 2013 managed to get nine co-sponsors as well as a hearing before the House Health and Human Resources Committee before failing to move forward to the House floor.

Marijuana Policy Project’s Matt Simon.

West Virginia lawmakers have begun considering the possibility of allowing for legal medical marijuana use and cultivation in their state. As we reported earlier this week, an interim joint health committee (no pun intended) has been called to evaluate whether legalizing medical cannabis is the right move for the state. Yesterday was the first of the hearings, with Marijuana Policy Project analyst and spokesman Matt Simon taking the stand and urging politicians in his home state to come to their senses.
“Those are some of the really tragic cases in my opinion, patients who have to move to another state just to try a plant that would work for them,” Simon told lawmakers.

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