RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — Virginia’s Lt Gov. Ralph Northam calls for the decriminalization of marijuana in a letter to the Virginia State Crime Commission on Monday.
Northam says Virginia’s current marijuana enforcement and sentencing laws remain “costly and disproportionately harmful to communities of color.”
In the letter, Northam says Virginia spends $67 million on marijuana enforcement, which is enough to open up another 13,000 pre-K spots for kids.
Northam also says in the letter that African Americans are nearly three times as likely to get arrested for simple marijuana possession and sentencing guidelines which include jail time can “all too often begin a dangerous cycle of recidivism.”
You can submit your thoughts on marijuana decriminalization in Virginia to the VSCC by 5 p.m. on August 25 by visiting here.
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