A Virginia congresswoman could picture herself defying U.S. federal law if her own daughter was sick and a marijuana medication would help, she told a couple whose daughter uses cannabis to combat symptoms of a rare form of brain cancer.

Whispering to Melanie Davis, Madison’s mother, Democratic Rep. Elaine Luria told her in a video posted on Facebook, “I’d want to do the same thing for my daughter if I ever had to make that choice.”

Lawmakers in Virginia have passed two bills that prohibit law enforcement officers from conducting warrantless searches based solely on the odor of marijuana. The measures, Senate Bill 5029 and House Bill 5058, have been approved by both legislative bodies and await the signature of Democratic. Gov. Ralph Northam to become law.

Virginia made history last week when the state Senate approved a bill that would stop police officers from pulling over and searching vehicles simply because they smell of cannabis. The bill is meant to help stop racial profiling against people of color. 

Todd Zinicola is pretty sure it’s the only time someone has smoked a Black & Mild cigar in a Virginia courtroom at the request of a judge.

He was defending a client in Fairfax who police searched after saying they smelled marijuana during a routine traffic stop. But Zinicola argued in court that it was impossible for the state trooper to smell the drug, wrapped in two layers of plastic wrap in the back seat, over the overpowering scent of the Black & Mild the man was smoking at the time.

The judge, Jane Marum Roush, who would go on to serve a brief term on the Supreme Court of Virginia, was unfamiliar with the product’s smell and invited him to light it, according to a transcript of the hearing.

Mayor Levar Stoney of Richmond,

Virginia’s cannabis decriminalization policy went into effect on July 1 making it the 27th state to decriminalize simple marijuana possession.

The new law reflects recent shifts in public opinion, with 83% of Virginian voters supporting the decriminalization of cannabis, and 61% supporting the legalization of cannabis for adult personal use.

Virginia’s Board of Pharmacy awarded five cannabis processing licenses in late 2018, and three of the recipients are expected to begin dispensing cannabis products to patients within the next two months. The program remains rather narrow at the onset, even after several big improvements, but, like many other states, it should expand in the years ahead. In this review, we discuss the history and rules of the program, review the licensed operators and assess the likelihood of growth.

As we previously wrote about, Virginia enacted a law decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana earlier this year. Unfortunately, there seem to be a lot of misconceptions about what that law—which became effective this week—actually means. Despite the label of a “decriminalization” law, it does not actually make possession of marijuana legal; rather, it changes possession of up to an ounce from a crime subject to arrest, jail time, and significant fines, to a civil offense that does not allow for arrest and results in a fine of only $25. The new law also removes the escalating penalties that used to be in place for multiple violations. Growing and distributing marijuana remain crimes subject to arrest and jail or prison time.

Even though Virginia has

Less than a month after Governor Northam signed the bill to legalize medical marijuana, the Virginia Board of Pharmacy voted to deny MedMen's request for an extension and rescinded their conditional license to operate a medical marijuana dispensary in Staunton. 

The Board of Pharmacy voted to move forward with a Request For Applications with the timeframe to be announced, according to Virginia NORML's website. This means medical cannabis companies can once again apply for a license in the state.