Biden Looks To Marijuana Decriminalization: What It Means For VA

VIRGINIA — President Joe Biden's pardons for those convicted of cannabis possession won't free many from prison. But it could build momentum for state-level reforms — even in states like Virginia that have legalized marijuana for adults 21 and older to possess, consume and grow.

Biden's pardons could help more than 6,500 people with employment, housing and other opportunities. But with only 149 people in federal prison for simple possession of marijuana in the fiscal year 2021, the significant majority of weed-related incarceration comes from the state level.

But the president took two steps that could lead to policy changes. President Biden directed Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and Attorney General Merrick Garland to review the substance's scheduling under federal law. Weed is classified as a Schedule I drug — the classification meant for the most dangerous substances. Additionally, Biden urged governors to use their clemency powers to keep people out of jail and prison for mere marijuana possession.

"Just as no one should be in a federal prison solely due to the possession of marijuana, no one should be in a local jail or state prison for that reason, either," Biden said in a statement.

• Read more: Biden Takes First Major Step Toward Decriminalizing Marijuana

Biden believes limitations on trafficking, marketing and underage sales should remain in place.

Virginia Del. Sam Rasoul (D-Roanoke) applauded Biden’s decision to issue mass pardons. “People should not be in prison for simple possession of marijuana. These policies have always disproportionately affected minorities,” Rasoul wrote in a tweet.

It is unclear whether Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin will give out pardons to those with state convictions. “The governor’s administration is reviewing President Biden’s executive action,” Youngkin’s spokesperson Macaulay Porter wrote in an email to 8News.

In Virginia, “simple possession” of marijuana — up to an ounce — and limited home cultivation are allowed for those 21 years and older. Retail marijuana sales will not start until at least 2024 when Virginia’s regulatory system is expected to be set.

The new law in Virginia became effective July 1, 2021. But unless a doctor has signed off on a prescription, there remains no legal way to buy it until the new regulatory system has been put into place.

Among other things, the 2021 legislation established the Cannabis Control Authority, recognizing it as the principal source of government expertise on cannabis and vesting it with broad authority to develop, issue and enforce rules pertaining to the existing medical cannabis market and a prospective adult-use retail market.

Virginia lawmakers also set a 2024 target to begin retail sales to recreational users, a date many lawmakers thought was too far into the future.

But the move toward quickening the pace of retail sales hit a roadblock when during the 2022 Virginia General Assembly session, Republican members of the House General Laws Subcommittee halted any further advancement of Senate-backed legislation, SB 391, that sought to initiate retail marijuana sales to adults beginning in September 2022.

And then Youngkin signed the 2022 budget bill, which contained language recriminalizing activities involving the personal possession of over four ounces of marijuana in public.

READ ALSO: Virginia's Marijuana Law: What's Legal And What's Not On July 1

Similar to how Biden's pardons won't help people in prison in Virginia or elsewhere in the country, people serving jail and prison sentences related to marijuana will remain behind bars in Virginia under legislation passed by the General Assembly in spring 2021.

Lawmakers had considered including a provision that would have granted re-sentencing hearings to people incarcerated on certain marijuana charges, but the language didn’t make it in the final bill.

The Last Prisoner Project — a group dedicated to freeing individuals "unjustly" imprisoned for cannabis — lauded President Biden's pardons but said more must be done.

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) called Biden's plan for pardons "a wise and compassionate move."

Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), who has been urging President Biden to take action on cannabis reforms, took a similar stance.

"Now it’s time for Congress and states to put an end to our failed policies," Booker said in a statement, "by legalizing and appropriately regulating cannabis, taxing cannabis, reinvesting proceeds in communities disproportionately harmed by the War on Drugs, and expunging criminal records for nonviolent drug offenses."

Hundreds of thousands of records for misdemeanor simple possession of marijuana have been sealed in Virginia since marijuana was decriminalized in the state in 2020. Lawmakers passed legislation to automatically expunge such records, but it will not go into effect until 2025.

“I’m very excited,” Chelsea Higgs Wise, the executive director of the advocacy group Marijuana Justice, said of Biden’s move. But Higgs Wise also noted that Biden's move came after advocacy groups pushed for him to act on the issue.