Virginia marijuana reform: Outlook for 2020
Share this article
ADVERTISEMENT
(comments below)
Comments
Comments
21 responses to “Virginia marijuana reform: Outlook for 2020”
-
Author’s note: Yes, it was a long post. But it’s also a complicated topic. Contrary to some living in Virginia’s past – we do not exist in a vacuum. The interplay of the federal government, other states and DC all affect Virginia.
-
I don’t oppose legalization but wonder about the effects of inhaling.
“Study: Men who smoke marijuana daily may increase risk of testicular cancer”
Ouch. Given the push to legalize, who will the media blame if it turns out pot is bad for one’s health?
-
It is bad for your health. Smoking anything is bad for you. Whether it’s better in edible form … I’d guess so but I don’t know so. However, I think it’s better for you than drinking, smoking tobacco or a steady diet of fast food. Moreover, it’s legalization is inevitable. Either Virginia gets moving and gets into the game or we miss yet another economic opportunity that could be very beneficial to rural areas of the state.
-
-
DJR, it surely will be bad for your health when you are maimed in an accident with a driver on a pot high.
-
Or, far more likely, maimed by a drunk driver. A marijuana breathalyzer is due on the market in 2020. Also, I’ll let you in on a secret …. there are stoned people on the roads right now.
-
Yes, the stoned people are the ones sitting at the stop sign waiting for it to turn green.
-
-
-
Is it time for Virginia legislators to start thinking about what reasonable regulations might be imposed as an accompaniment to legalization? You know… restricting sales to minors, taxation, funding of addiction programs, driving while under the influence, monitoring long-term impacts on health… that sort of thing. I’d feel a lot better about legalization if I knew that weed was subject to health and safety oversight.
-
Yes, it is absolutely time. Probably time to bring it into discussion on Bacon’s Rebellion too. The crony capitalists came out in force in New York and temporarily derailed that state’s decision to legalize. The social justice warriors are putting on a big show in places where pot has recently been considered for legalization. Lessons are being learned.
-
Even the medical marijuana regulations vary significantly from state to state. Some states limit marijuana to treat a very few, very specific conditions. Other states allow for the treatment of “pain”, anxiety, etc. In other words, pretty much a free for all. Maryland has highway billboards advertising medical marijuana doctors. We’ll see what the Democrats do in Virginia in 2020. Will the party that believes a woman’s body should be only her concern when it comes to abortion decide that everybody’s body ought to be their concern when it comes to marijuana.
-
-
-
All things equal , if someone maims you in their car – does it really matter if they were drinking alcohol, or oxycodone, or texting on their phone?
If we want to deal with THAT issue – it would need to be on a basis that does not arbitrarily discriminate, so we have a law that says you are liable for your own behavior – not just arbitrary things.
Having said that, I’m amused because we hear over and over from the anti-tax folks that taxpayers know better how to spend their money than the government!
And that is the apparent premise behind the Virginia state policy of not allowing a locality to hold a referendum to increases taxes to fund a school! Let those taxpayers buy POT before they are required to fund schools!
-
You were doing pretty well until you got to the last paragraph. It certainly will be illegal to drive under the influence of marijuana or under the influence of alcohol or when texting or without wearing your seat belt. And people are certainly doing all these things today. Better or more effective enforcement of all anti-dangerous driving laws would be a good idea. I rarely drive for an hour around here without seeing several episodes of suicidal / homicidal driving. Spend some of the pot tax windfall to better enforce all anti-dangerous driving laws.
-
It is ALREADY illegal to drive under the influence of marijuana, and I have already heard PSA adverts advising people of that.
-
-
As for the last paragraph … ?
-
-
it’s a little of a tangent but I think relevant when talking about the right of people to spend their money on things they want rather than have that money go for taxes – which the Govt has decided are needed.
The premise espoused here by the Conservative types is that anytime there is a “tax” on something that it detracts from citizens ability to make their own choices about what to spend their money on.
And I just point out that those choices that people make – don’t necessarily reflect that citizens actually DO know “better” uses of that money if they decide………….
this is a good example.
-
It would be an interesting experiment to let taxpayers designate their own tax money to their preferred functions, leaving the agencies and programs that are not popular sucking for air. But to go back to an earlier comment, Larry, state and local taxpayers can and do have referendums on taxes and bonds all the time. What you cannot do in Virginia, not easily, is get the question on the ballot by petition.
On the main point of this post, I agree, Virginia will move in this direction and might as well, since so many other states are/will and those states will cater to Virginians anyway. I’ve favored decriminalization of simple possession for a long time, but anybody going into the business of growing, processing or selling weed needs to be regulated closely and the bad actors need to continue facing incarceration. Now we’ll have tax rules to use to lock them up.
Good luck finding a field sobriety test that can discriminate between pot and CBD, and good luck convincing a large block of employers that they now have to hire people with active pot use. This is about workplace accidents, too. Spotting a drunk at work is easier than spotting somebody high, in my experience. That’s one of the attractions of pot.
-
I’ll post a future article on the state of the art for marijuana breathalyzers.
As far as convincing a large block of employers that they now have to hire people with active pot use … they already do. And, even today, very few employers test for drug use – at time of employment or ongoing.
“Overall, remarkably few jobs disclose that they require drug testing before confirming employment, or during employment. On average, only 1.47 percent of job postings in the U.S. mention that they require pre-employment drug tests.
Even fewer jobs disclose that they require regular drug screenings during employment. On average, only 0.66 percent of job postings mention regular drug testing.”
I would have no problem with employers who have legitimate safety issues at work banning marijuana use for employees. There are many such employment specific bans. For example, it is perfectly legal for an executive to have an ongoing affair with his or her secretary. However, most companies would fire you for doing so.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/javierhasse/2019/08/05/drug-testing-at-work/#8b1655a3fa72
-
-
-
re: ” state and local taxpayers can and do have referendums on taxes and bonds all the time. What you cannot do in Virginia, not easily, is get the question on the ballot by petition.”
What Dick said was that the GA had to approve the locality to hold a referenda. I know there are other kinds they can hold without getting permission – so what is the distinction?
re: tests to determine “sobriety”.
Just to point out there are hundreds of legal medications that warn not to drive when taking them but how many of them do we test for? And how about other drugs? Do we test for PCP or Cocaine or Heroin or LSD or the hundreds of other illegal drugs.
If we are going to do this “right” – there needs to be one policy with regard to driving while impaired – and not essentially use that law as a reason to block one particular drug or substance.
I have no problem at all with an overall policy for all substances but I do have a problem with laws being selective for SOME substances but not others.
And this does not even scratch the surface for those that cannot put their smartphones down while they drive. It’s like a disease. These
folks, many of them are supposedly decent folks with jobs that require good judgement and when they get into a car – they turn into idiots.-
Willie Nelson is no longer toking
-
-
On Friday (Nov. 29), KSAT-TV out of San Antonio, Texas, published a brief interview with Nelson under the headline “Willie Nelson says he’s no longer smoking marijuana due to breathing issues.” The country icon, who has dealt with emphysema and pneumonia on a recurring basis, and even underwent a stem cell operation to help his lungs in 2015, told the television station that he “do[esn’t] smoke anymore — take better care of myself.”
“I have abused my lungs quite a bit in the past, so breathing is a little more difficult these days and I have to be careful,” Nelson shares. “I started smoking cedar bark, went from that to cigarettes to whatever. And that almost killed me.”
Numerous news outlets picked KSAT’s story up, reporting that Nelson has given up smoking pot — but, the star’s son, singer-songwriter Lukas Nelson, clarifies, that’s not the whole story. Just because he’s given up smoking doesn’t mean Nelson has stopped using marijuana once and for all.
“It’s almost 2020, how people ingest cannabis has changed,” the younger Nelson writes. “Between vaping, edibles, gummies, drops, etc. I think it’s safe to say Willie will never stop enjoying Mary Jane!”
Nelson, a longtime advocate for the legalization of marijuana, founded his own line of weed-focused products in 2015 …”
For more see:
https://theboot.com/willie-nelson-gives-up-smoking-but-not-pot/?trackback=fbshare_mobileutm_medium=referral
-
Reed. Got any gummies? Thanks. Peter
-
Has any progress been made on testing for driving under the influence (while high)? This was one of the issues causing some problems in other states.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.