Advocates celebrate as changes to marijuana laws officially take effect in VA

ROSSLYN, Va. (FOX 5 DC) - For the first time ever, Virginia now has legal marijuana. July 1 marks the start of a new law making the commonwealth becoming the first state in the South to legalize pot.

For years, people said Virginia would never move to legalize marijuana, but that all changed today as a new law went into effect which will eventually result in legal sales in the commonwealth in a few years. 

A dramatic display of this new law took place in Rosslyn, Va. Thursday afternoon, where a pro-marijuana group gave out free seeds at the metro station to mark the occasion. 

"I feel great. I think this is awesome what they’re doing and I’m excited about it," one of the attendees in Rosslyn said. 

"I just feel free! I think this is a good step for Virginia," said another. 
The new law makes possession of up to an ounce of marijuana legal for people over 21 legal. 

"In hindsight, we’re going to look back on these 80 years of prohibition and it’s not going to be that big a deal," one advocate told Fox 5.  

Pot sales are illegal for now, but adults can ‘gift’ an ounce of the drug to any adult. Virginia pot advocates say the next step is federal legalization.

"The tipping point will be when the President of the United States gets onboard and the Vice President keeps her promises. When she was a Senator she was for legalization,"  another proponent, Adam, said. "You can’t continue to keep something illegal at the federal level when literally every state has tried to make it legal in some form."

Under the law, adults with over an ounce, but under than a pound of pot only face a $25 fine. Over a pound and you’re looking at a felony, 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.  

Legal pot sales won’t begin until 2024. Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring says people don’t have to call police if they smell marijuana, and that change was overdue. 

"A conviction would follow you your entire life, limiting future opportunities in employment, education in housing, and even though everybody thought it’d never happen here. It needed to happen," AG Herring said.

To be clear, it’s not a free-for-all. Just like alcohol, it’s still illegal for anyone under 21 in Virginia to use pot. Virgina’s law of "gifting" pot is stricter than DC’s, where many vendors in the district sell legal products at inflated prices, and then "gift" pot along with the product. 

Virginia officials say a pot "gift" needs to be a gift--with no strings attached.