It’s official. Adult use marijuana will be legal in Virginia this year on July 1st.
The state’s governor, Ralph Northam, has signed a bill this week making the state the first in the south to legalize the plant for adult-use. The state also becomes the 17th in the nation to legalize the plant for adult use.
Northam ceremonially signed the bill on Wednesday, with the new law going into effect starting on July 1st.
“Data from the court system since then shows us that our marijuana possession laws, continued to be disproportionately enforced, that’s why it is so important as was important to me that we go ahead and legalize simple possession,” Northam said.
According to the governor, even if marijuana is decriminalized, legalization will help disproportionately impacted communities.
“We know that marijuana laws in Virginia and throughout this country have been disproportionately enforced against communities of color and low-income Virginians,” Northam added.
“We are moving forward in a way that promotes equity, provides a clean slate to those with prior convictions, and reinvests in the communities harmed by over-criminalization,” Northam tweeted, along with a photo from the bill signing.
Now anyone age 21 or older can legally possess up to an ounce of the drug, and residents are allowed to grow up to four plants. Also some people who have been convicted of lesser marijuana offenses will have their records expunged.
Smoking marijuana in public or driving under its influence will remain crimes.
Commercial sales in Virginia is not expected to begin until 2024.
