Category: Virginia
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Virginia Police Report Shows Large Drop In Cannabis Arrests For 2020, But Omits Breakdown By Race
Roughly one year after Virginia decriminalized cannabis, pot arrests have almost been slashed in half in the commonwealth, according to an annual crime report released last week by state police. Cannabis arrests dropped by about 48% in 2020, decreasing to 13,640 incidents from 26,470 the previous year, the report shows. Arrests had peaked at nearly…
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Virginia Watchdog Suggests Adding Misdemeanor Penalties For Cannabis. Advocates Say It’s a Bad Idea.
A Virginia government watchdog is recommending significant changes to the state’s cannabis laws just weeks before possession is set to become legal, and as regulators prepare for the launch of recreational sales in 2024. In a report published last week, the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC), a state-funded group that keeps tabs on…
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Virginia Governor’s Race Offers Two Drastically Different Visions For Legalizing Cannabis
Terry McAuliffe cruised to the Democratic nomination for Virginia governor on Tuesday, setting the stage for what could be a close race between the former governor and Republican nominee Glenn Youngkin, a businessman with no prior political experience. Polls show McAuliffe, an establishment candidate who is running for his old job—he was governor of Virginia…
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Amid Massive Hiring Spree, Amazon Scraps Cannabis Screenings For Job Seekers
Amazon says it will no longer test job applicants for cannabis, though it will continue to perform random drug screenings for employees who are on the job. The policy reversal was announced on Tuesday by Dave Clark, Amazon’s CEO of consumer business, in a blog post on the company’s website. “In the past, like many…
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Virginia Cannabis Legalization Gets Cops Kvetching About Drug Dogs
A story from last week by Washington D.C. ‘s Fox5 titled “Legalization of marijuana forcing some police K9s in Virginia to retire,” illustrates the way that no problem is too small to be problematized by law enforcement and other opponents of cannabis reform. According to Fox5, local law enforcement is “taking a hit” because of…
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Welcome To Maryland, Trulieve: Massive Cannabis MSO Enters Md. Market Following Record-Breaking Deal
One of the cannabis industry’s biggest companies is coming to Maryland by way of a $2.1 billion acquisition, the largest merger deal in the cannabis industry to-date. Trulieve Cannabis Corp. is a multistate operator (MSO) that dominates the Florida medical cannabis market. Last week, Trulieve announced they would be purchasing Harvest Health and Recreation, Arizona’s…
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Loudoun County Officials Push Back Against Cannabis Legalization, Tax Revenue
Last week, The Outlaw Report noted the ongoing effort in King George County, Virginia to figure out how they can prevent the cannabis legalization that was approved statewide—and begins in July 2021—from happening in their majority white, 188-square mile jurisdiction. “I saw first-hand the effects drug abuse can have on individuals as well as the…
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Virginia’s King George County Wants To Keep Cannabis Illegal
As Virginia rushes towards its expedited July 1, 2021 date for cannabis legalization, resulting in a number of cannabis-related companies rapidly entering the industry—even as it leaves those incarcerated for cannabis behind—at least one county is trying to figure out how to keep cannabis illegal. King George County officials have asked the county’s attorney to…
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District Hemp Owner Talks CBD in D.C. Amid COVID and People and Pets’ Needs
Last week’s episode of The Outlaw Report podcast was a conversation with Barbara Biddle, the owner of District Hemp Botanicals, located in the DuPont Circle neighborhood of Washington D.C. Biddle also owns two other hemp CBD boutiques in Virginia. We discussed the hemp industry in D.C., and how her business has been affected by the…
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Virginia Cop Involved in Violent Arrest on 4/20 No Longer a Cop
Virginia State Trooper Charles Hewitt, who was involved in the violent arrest of a Black man named Derrick Thompson on Apr. 20, 2019 is no longer with the Virginia State Police. This incident first went public in July of last year when Thompson’s lawyer, Joshua Erlich released video of the arrest recorded on Thompson’s cell…
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Cannabis in the South: Advocates Talk Racial Justice and Reform Strategies
On 4/20, a Zoom panel about cannabis intersected with the imminent reading of the Derek Chauvin verdict, which highlighted the importance of racial justice in legalizing weed in the South. Five cannabis experts participated in the conversation that ran through the 4:20 hour and purposefully closed just before Judge Peter Cahill read the verdict, announcing…