Black People Still More Likely to Be Arrested for Cannabis Crimes in Virginia

October 20, 2022 · Ganjapreneur

Black people are still more likely to be arrested for cannabis-related crimes in Virginia despite adult-use legalization, the Washington Post reports. The reforms took effect July 1, 2021, and while arrests for cannabis have dropped overall, Black adults accounted for nearly 60% of such cases before the state’s district and circuit courts, according to the Post analysis.  

Black people account for about 20% of Virginia’s population. The bulk of the arrests is for distribution as legal sales have not yet commenced in the state. During the first year of legalization, possession of more than an ounce was a civil penalty carrying a $25 fine; however, following his election, Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin proposed and signed into law a bill creating misdemeanor charges for possession of more than four ounces.   

The Post’s data was from a list of more than 1,700 cannabis-related code citations between July 1, 2021, and the end of June this year, provided by the Supreme Court of Virginia’s Office of the Executive Secretary in response to a Virginia Freedom of Information Act request. The analysis found, overall, cannabis-related citations dropped about 90% in Virginia from 2019. 

According to the Post analysis, Chesterfield County General District Court had the second highest number of arrests in the state behind Virginia Beach General District Court. In Chesterfield, Black defendants comprised 71% of the court’s 110 cannabis-related cases in the year following legalization. In the state’s most populous county, Fairfax, Black defendants made up just over 30% of the 108 cannabis-related cases in the year following legalization, the report says. 

In 2019, there were more than 26,000 cannabis-related arrests in Virginia. In 2020, that figure dropped to about 13,000 and fell to just over 2,000 in 2021, which included the six months after the adult-use reforms took effect.   Full Story

In categories:Legal Politics
Next Post

No Surprise: Russian Court Rejects Brittney Griner's Appeal, Sends Her to Penal Colony

Brittney Griner will not be coming home for the holidays. In a disappointing decision on October 25, the WNBA star who was arrested for cannabis possession in Russia in February and convicted and sentenced to nine years in jail in August, lost her appeal and has…
Read
Previous Post

Cannabis Bill addresses all concerns raised by Democrat and Pheu Thai parties

The Cannabis Bill, which has been reviewed by the House Scrutiny Committee, addresses all the concerns raised by both the Democrat and Pheu Thai parties, said Suphachai Jaismut, head of the committee and a party-list MP for the Bhumjaithai Party.…
Read
Random Post

Alaska Supreme Court Orders Marijuana Records To Be Removed From Conviction Database

On May 1, the Alaska Court System will remove the marijuana possession convictions of about 750 Alaskans from Courtview, the state’s online database of court cases. The Alaska Supreme Court announced the move in an order signed January 31 by the court’s…
Read
Random Post

Cannabis retailers extending 4/20 promotions from 1 day to up to a month

Every year on 4/20, cannabis retailers across the U.S. gear up to celebrate the unofficial April 20 marijuana holiday with promotions, deals and in-store events aimed at attracting new customers and keeping the ones they have. While this year is…
Read
Random Post

From Grower to Shower: What’s Next for Canopy Growth Corporation?

SMITH FALLS, ONTARIO – Canopy Growth Corporation, one of the world’s largest cannabis cultivators and manufacturers, announced plans to lay off 35 percent of its workforce—roughly 800 jobs—in an effort to rebound from its recent CAD $266.7 million (about U.S. $196 million) net…
Read
Random Post

Weed shops switch to cash after cashless ATM crackdown

Marijuana shops across the U.S. are rushing to find alternative ways for customers to pay after networks that supported a popular workaround to the banking system began to shut down last week. Cashless ATMs, also called “point of banking” systems,…
Read