Top Virginia Senator Files Bill To Provide Sentencing Relief For People With Marijuana Convictions

Virginia’s Senate president pro tempore has filed a bill to provide relief
for people convicted of past cannabis crimes, mandating that individuals
with certain offenses automatically receive resentencing hearings and have
their punishments adjusted.

The legislation is similar to proposals passed by lawmakers in recent
sessions that were vetoed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R). The incumbent
governor, however, will be leaving office next month and will be replaced
by Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger (D), who supports marijuana reform.

The current proposal, filed on Monday by Sen. Louise Lucas (D), would
create a process by which people who are incarcerated or on community
supervision for certain felony offenses involving the possession,
manufacture, selling or distribution of marijuana could receive an
automatic hearing to consider modification of their sentences.

The measure applies to people whose convictions are for conduct that
occurred prior to July 1, 2021, when a state law legalizing personal
possession and home cultivation of marijuana went into effect.

“During his term, Governor Youngkin repeatedly rejected efforts to review
and modify marijuana-related sentences,” JM Pedini, development director
for the advocacy group NORML and executive director for Virginia NORML,
told Marijuana Moment. “We’re ready to move this issue forward under the
Spanberger administration and secure justice for those impacted.”

The new sentencing relief bill comes as lawmakers are planning to pass
legislation to legalize and regulate recreational marijuana sales to build
on the state’s current noncommercial legalization law. Youngkin has also
vetoed such proposals in the past, but Spanberger has pledged her support.

“With all the excitement around a new market this is still one our most
important bills that offers relief to the most harmed during Virginia’s
full prohibition of marijuana,” Chelsea Higgs Wise, executive director of
the advocacy group Marijuana Justice, told Marijuana Moment.

“The resentencing bill is critical to show that Virginia is serious about
providing repair along with building an equitable market,” she said. “Black
Virginians were four times more likely to be arrested and convicted and
there are still people serving sentences inside and on probation who
deserve this relief while the commonwealth goes on to generate millions in
revenue.”


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Sheba Williams, executive director of Nolef Turns said that “the time to
address sentence modification for cannabis related offenses was at the
moment that legalization became reality in Virginia.”

“We had multiple opportunities to do what was right and necessary each year
under the Youngkin administration but failed to address the most
significant harm of prohibition—the people who have been impacted,”
Williams, who is also a Virginia NORML board member and serves on the
Virginia Cannabis Equity Reinvestment Board, said. “We hope that common
sense and justice will apply to those impacted by the failed war on drugs
as a new administration ushers in.”

Earlier this month, the legislature’s Joint Commission to Oversee the
Transition of the Commonwealth into a Cannabis Retail Market unveiled a
much-anticipated proposal to legalize recreational marijuana sales that it
is recommending lawmakers pass during the 2026 session.

Lucas recently said the state should move forward with legalizing
recreational marijuana sales—in part to offset the Trump administration’s
cuts to federal spending in support of states.

Separately, the Virginia Department of Labor and Industry published a new
document this month outlining workplace protections for cannabis consumers.

The post Top Virginia Senator Files Bill To Provide Sentencing Relief For
People With Marijuana Convictions appeared first on Marijuana Moment.