Virginia Cannabis Bill of Rights (2022)

Whereas, Humankind has had a relationship cultivating the plant from the genus Cannabis, also commonly called Hemp and Marijuana in law, since 10,000 BC for its use as a widely applicable resource; and

Whereas, Cannabis can provide food, clothing, shelter, fuel, paper, rope, textiles, animal feed and bedding, automobile, train and airplane parts, packaging, medicine, dietary supplements, and hundreds of other resources for Virginians; and

Whereas, Virginians have an inherent right to provide food, clothing, shelter, fuel, dietary supplements and medicine for themselves and their families; and

Whereas, Virginians have an inherent right to provide the proper self-care and health-supporting diet and dietary supplements for themselves and their family and that may include consuming, growing, processing and/or manufacturing cannabis in its various forms as they see fit in any preparation needed; and

Whereas, Virginians have the inherent rights to choose their own plant medicine and their own religious or spiritual practices without interference from the Government or any civil or criminal penalties; and

Whereas, the widely recognized failure of Cannabis prohibition and the war on Cannabis has yielded manifest waste of resources, and harms to the citizens of the Commonwealth of Virginia;

NOW, THEREFORE, the Virginia Hemp Coalition and its Membership declare and assert the following fundamental rights of all persons that reside within the Commonwealth of Virginia:

1. No law or regulation in Virginia shall apply any criminal or civil penalty for the personal cultivation, possession, or consumption of cannabis.

2. No law or regulation in Virginia shall restrict the research and scientific analysis of cannabis.

3. No law or regulation in Virginia shall tax a citizen’s own cultivation of cannabis, in any of its raw or processed forms, for personal use.

4. No law or regulation in Virginia shall allow the mere possession or consumption of Cannabis outside of work hours to be a unique disqualifying factor for employment.

5. Cannabis cultivation in Virginia shall enjoy the same status as other agricultural crops that may also produce an intoxicating end-product, such as grapes, apples, potatoes, wheat, corn, and tobacco. Virginia farmers small to large shall have access to the cannabis free market.

6. Non-intoxicating cannabis food, beverage and dietary supplement products shall be subject to the same rules and regulations as all other non-intoxicating food, beverage and dietary supplements products for retail sale on the store shelves in the Commonwealth of Virginia and no further regulatory burdens shall be placed upon these legal products.

7. No person shall be arrested or incarcerated in a facility located in Virginia on a cannabis charge arising merely out of cannabis cultivation, possession, or consumption. All current prisoners held solely on a cannabis charge shall be pardoned immediately by the Governor.

8. The Virginia craft cannabis industry shall be treated with the same respect as the Virginia craft beer, wine and cider industry and parts of the industry may follow similar free market guidelines and regulations.

9. Virginia cannabis consumers, farmers, and producers shall enjoy a free cannabis marketplace that is not constrained or manipulated by the market and lobbying power of out-of-state or large, capital-intensive producers or distributors. There shall be no monopolies forced upon the Virginia cannabis free market.

10. There shall be no law or regulation in Virginia that restricts the rights of its citizens to choose cannabis as their plant medicine or for use in religious ceremonies; and they may enjoy the use of cannabis as they see fit, in exercising these fundamental rights.