Pubdate: Mon, 14 May 2012
Source: Charlottesville Daily Progress (VA)
Copyright: 2012 Media General Newspapers
Contact:  http://www.dailyprogress.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1545
Author: Graham Moomaw

LAWMAKERS DOUBTFUL ON CHARLOTTESVILLE MARIJUANA RESOLUTION

The Charlottesville City Council has shown its willingness to push the
envelope on marijuana policy, but Central Virginia's representatives
in Richmond seem uneager to follow suit.

The City Council broke new ground last week by calling on state
lawmakers to rethink penalties for pot possession and give "due
consideration" to legislation that would decriminalize, legalize or
regulate marijuana like alcohol.

Pro-legalization activists believe it's the first resolution of its
kind in the state, but because marijuana is illegal under state law,
nothing will change unless the General Assembly decides to act.

"There's been legislation introduced over the last couple sessions
that has gone absolutely nowhere," said Del. David J. Toscano,
D-Charlottesville. "... I think the likelihood of anything getting
through the General Assembly in this context is minimal."

Marijuana activists, who hope to see pot legalized within five years,
are similarly pessimistic about the possibility of gaining an early
foothold in Virginia.

"I don't think Virginia's going to be a leader on this,
unfortunately," said Ed McCann, a Lynchburg resident who heads up the
Virginia chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of
Marijuana Laws. "But damn if we aren't working to make them."

On May 7, the City Council voted 3-2 to pass a marijuana resolution
that had been toned down from its original form. Initially, the text
would have also instructed the city police department to make pot
possession its lowest enforcement priority, but that language was taken out.

State Sens. R. Creigh Deeds, D-Bath County, and Bryce Reeves,
R-Spotsylvania, offered similarly lukewarm reactions at a Senior
Statesmen of Virginia forum last week, according to the
Charlottesville Newsplex.

In the fall, Toscano, a former Charlottesville mayor who currently
serves as House minority leader, will consider all legislative
requests from the localities he represents, but he doesn't support
marijuana legalization.

"My concern is the signal it sends to young people about the use of
substances," Toscano said, echoing the concerns of Mayor Satyendra
Huja and Councilor Kathy Galvin, who both voted against the council
resolution.

Toscano said the issue of marijuana policy is worth "considerably more
debate" than Richmond gives it, and he'd like to hear more from his
constituents.

Two marijuana-related bills were introduced in the most recent General
Assembly session - one to allow medical marijuana and another that
would study the effects of legalizing pot and selling it through
state-controlled ABC stores - but both died in committee without
making it to a full vote.

"It seems to me that if you're going to make any movement along these
lines, you have to make it in the area of medical use, because it
seems that people at least understand that issue a little bit better,"
Toscano said.

Jordan McNeish, a local activist who led a lengthy push to get the
City Council to address marijuana as an issue, said activists in
Virginia Beach are working on passing a similar resolution. He's also
considering approaching the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors with
the idea.

"I'm hoping the groundswell will put so much pressure on Richmond that
eventually they will have to vote on something," McNeish said.

McCann said the Virginia NORML group is pushing for full legalization
rather than the incremental step of authorized medical marijuana.

Colorado voters could provide a catalyst for the pro-legalization
movement this year, McCann said. On Election Day, they'll be voting on
a ballot initiative that would legalize limited amounts of marijuana
and regulate the drug like alcohol.

"Once that happens, it's going to start to fall across the country,"
McCann said. "I think once it starts happening in other states, then
the dominoes will fall very quickly. And we will just skip that
[medical marijuana] stage."

Though the ultimate authority on marijuana laws lies in Richmond,
Charlottesville defense attorney Jeffrey E. Fogel has suggested a
possible local workaround.

Fogel submitted a proposal to the City Council in which he argues that
the city could pass its own marijuana ordinance with penalties more
lenient than those in the state code, which might prevent local
offenders from facing jail time for possession.

Under Virginia law, possession of marijuana is classified as a
misdemeanor carrying punishment of up to 30 days in jail and/or fines
of up to $500. Subsequent convictions carry a jail sentence of up to a
year and/or fines of up to $2,500.

Fogel insists that the city could pass a parallel law that would limit
punishment to a maximum fine of $250.

"This is an effort to at least take jail time out of the equation and
may be something that all of the council can agree to," Fogel said in
an email. "There are legal restrictions on what a municipal body can
do and I wanted to show that, as a matter of law, this can be done."

City Attorney Craig Brown said he plans to examine the feasibility of
Fogel's proposal, and he'll make the results public once he's made a
determination.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Matt