I'm currently the Business and Agriculture Reporter at a daily newspaper - The News Leader in Staunton, Virginia. Prior to joining The News Leader I worked at a weekly paper for almost two years - The Loudoun Times-Mirror. I'm interested in writing on hard-hitting issues, features and anything that is going on in my community. I love to travel and write about my experiences and I hope to visit every state and state park someday. My days mostly conclude enjoying and curling up with a good book and a record playing, with my cat Thea. My blog is updated weekly with stories from the previous week. Check NewsLeader.com to follow current stories I've written.
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May 31, 2010
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Movement Grows to Reform Marijuana Law
The Virginia Gazette
Movement grows to reform marijuana laws
By Laura Peters & Robin Hertel
To many young people, smoking pot isn’t a big deal, hardly a crime to merit hard time in prison. But law enforcement authorities take marijuana possession seriously: Over the past 20 years, the number of marijuana arrests nationwide has nearly tripled to more than 870,000 in 2007.
InVirginia
Some groups say that it’s overkill to arrest people for having a small amount of marijuana for personal use, and that it’s wrong to throw pot smokers in prison.
The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws is advocating what it considers to be “more rational and cost-effective marijuana policies.” Dee Duffy, director of theVirginia
Movement grows to reform marijuana laws
By Laura Peters & Robin Hertel
In
Some groups say that it’s overkill to arrest people for having a small amount of marijuana for personal use, and that it’s wrong to throw pot smokers in prison.
The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws is advocating what it considers to be “more rational and cost-effective marijuana policies.” Dee Duffy, director of the
“They have families, hold jobs, are educated and pose no threat to the commonwealth,” Duffy said. “The greatest threat is to the person who is in jail for marijuana possession; the punishment far outweighs the crime.”
UnderVirginia
Growing marijuana is a felony and can earn up to 30 years in jail and a $10,000 fine. The sale of a half-ounce or less of marijuana is a misdemeanor punishable by one year in jail and a $2,500 fine. Possess any greater amount and it’s counted as a felony. The seller can receive up to 50 years behind bars, depending on how much is being sold to whom, and can be fined up to $1 million.
Del. Harvey Morgan (R-Gloucester) introduced two pieces of legislation during this year’s General Assembly session dealing with marijuana. One would have decriminalized possession of small amounts of marijuana, and the other would have allowed doctors to use marijuana to treat more diseases.
Morgan, 79, is a pharmacist and an assistant clinical professor of pharmacy atVirginia Commonwealth University
Morgan said he believed his proposals would save the state money – the cost of arresting, prosecuting and imprisoning marijuana smokers. And he felt his medical marijuana law would help ease the pain of people with debilitating diseases.
NORML officials say marijuana laws should be changed for several reasons. For one thing, they say, the laws are selectively enforced. The group says this can be seen in a recent study that compared 2007 marijuana arrests by age and by sex in theUnited States
“Public opinion will change. Gradually, but it will. Interest and concern increases, which makes more demands on legislators,” Duffy said.
Recently inRichmond
Sheriff C.T. Woody Jr. told a television reporter that arrests like these “should serve as a reminder that our deputies are constantly on alert for illegal items entering the courthouse.” He also said such arrests illustrate how drugs can affect someone’s ability to make rational decisions.
Detective Jason Thompson of the Henrico police says that growing marijuana is more common than people think.
“Within the past several months, we have come across several grow operations,” Thompson said. “They appear to be more common in the recent years than they used to be … I think it’s a trendy thing -- a lot of the people that are into the marijuana culture. Personally, I think they find it interesting. It’s easy to grow.”
To ensure statewide enforcement, State Police are working with the Governor’s Initiative Against Narcotics Trafficking, or GIANT.
Part of GIANT’s mission is to curb the domestic cultivation of marijuana, indoor and outdoor, inVirginia U.S.
“There are so many marijuana arrests, I can’t even begin to imagine how to count them all,” Thompson said. “I have been to homes that the entire rooms have been gutted and used solely for the use of marijuana growing.”
Under
Growing marijuana is a felony and can earn up to 30 years in jail and a $10,000 fine. The sale of a half-ounce or less of marijuana is a misdemeanor punishable by one year in jail and a $2,500 fine. Possess any greater amount and it’s counted as a felony. The seller can receive up to 50 years behind bars, depending on how much is being sold to whom, and can be fined up to $1 million.
Del. Harvey Morgan (R-Gloucester) introduced two pieces of legislation during this year’s General Assembly session dealing with marijuana. One would have decriminalized possession of small amounts of marijuana, and the other would have allowed doctors to use marijuana to treat more diseases.
Morgan, 79, is a pharmacist and an assistant clinical professor of pharmacy at
Morgan said he believed his proposals would save the state money – the cost of arresting, prosecuting and imprisoning marijuana smokers. And he felt his medical marijuana law would help ease the pain of people with debilitating diseases.
NORML officials say marijuana laws should be changed for several reasons. For one thing, they say, the laws are selectively enforced. The group says this can be seen in a recent study that compared 2007 marijuana arrests by age and by sex in the
“Public opinion will change. Gradually, but it will. Interest and concern increases, which makes more demands on legislators,” Duffy said.
Recently in
Sheriff C.T. Woody Jr. told a television reporter that arrests like these “should serve as a reminder that our deputies are constantly on alert for illegal items entering the courthouse.” He also said such arrests illustrate how drugs can affect someone’s ability to make rational decisions.
Detective Jason Thompson of the Henrico police says that growing marijuana is more common than people think.
“Within the past several months, we have come across several grow operations,” Thompson said. “They appear to be more common in the recent years than they used to be … I think it’s a trendy thing -- a lot of the people that are into the marijuana culture. Personally, I think they find it interesting. It’s easy to grow.”
To ensure statewide enforcement, State Police are working with the Governor’s Initiative Against Narcotics Trafficking, or GIANT.
Part of GIANT’s mission is to curb the domestic cultivation of marijuana, indoor and outdoor, in
“There are so many marijuana arrests, I can’t even begin to imagine how to count them all,” Thompson said. “I have been to homes that the entire rooms have been gutted and used solely for the use of marijuana growing.”