West Virginia Can’t Wait – Advocacy Group Wants Cannabis Decriminalization Poll This Fall

Activists in the state of West Virginia are proposing a few local cannabis decriminalization initiatives for the November vote, including Charleston, the state capital. A west Virginia group has taken the mantle, working on a vote to decriminalize possession of insignificant amounts of weed.

THE WEST VIRGINIA WEED Advocates

The West Virginia Cant Wait is a founding political group led by Stephen Smith, who ran for governor of West Virginia in 2020. The group’s members act as recruiters, educators and supporters of “They also compensate community leaders who “fulfil the duties neglected by the government,” according to its website.

West Virginia Can’t Wait field director Sarah Hutson said if a sufficient number of citizen petitions are approved and voters support the initiative, possession of cannabis will be treated similarly to a speeding ticket. Possession of cannabis within Fairmont City limits would still be considered a misdemeanor, but there would be no jail time, court costs, or associated fees. Hutson said that is the goal and practically the statute they have would suffice. It is commonly referred to as “No Fines, No Jail Time and No Court Fees”.

They are currently conducting experiments with three metropolitan electoral crusades in West Virginia cities. In Fairmont and Charleston they fight for the decriminalization of cannabis possession and in Morgantown they work to improve housing conditions.

To ensure the statute is up for ballot in November’s election, Hutson and Jonny Southern, organizer of Fairmonts for West Virginia Can’t Wait, are working with other people excited about the action to petition. The petition must be signed on paper by voters who live and are registered in Fairmont City. The goal is to collect 3,000 signatures, but the requirement is only 2,010, or 15 percent of the 13,402 registered voters from the previous election. So far, the number of signers of the petition is less than 100.

THE GOAL OF THE INITIATIVE

The initiatives will not completely remove cannabis bans from city ordinances. They only focus on getting rid of paying fines for doing so, eliminating the jail time and court costs associated with it. Hutson said the idea is to provide signatures for the first two target cities by mid-July. However, Hutson also added that in the upcoming election, organizers could work to qualify marijuana measures in other West Virginia metropolitan areas. She said there’s been a great response, and she thinks the average is now 49 out of 50 people you ask. And a person might say no.

Over a thousand signatures have been collected from the Charleston campaign, suggesting they are about halfway to qualifying. In Fairmont, where the petitions have been approved for about two weeks, signature collection has only recently begun. Hutson said in terms of volunteers, there are about 20 to 30 staff working in Charleston and in Fairmont, about 10.

Hutson said the signatures they’re collecting are the ones they can count on, and it’s just a matter of the number of people they need to get because individuals are very excited and really excited about marijuana being decriminalized to see. She added that the current West Virginia government does not show the tremendous will of the people that people should not be jailed for possession of marijuana. Because of that, collecting signatures was easy and really awesome, and it’s all about getting people with clipboards there.

The proposal, sponsored by West Virginia Can’t Wait, is based in part on the noncriminalization measures presented to Ohio voters in previous local elections, and the campaign received speech and support from the Ohio-based Sensible Movement Coalition (SMC). Dealing with legal issues.

THE BELIEF

In addition to hoping that the cannabis reforms themselves will be carried out, the group believes that marijuana on the ballot can help elect more progressive candidates by helping to increase the presence of voters who would otherwise not go to the polls Polls for the upcoming election.

Hutson explained that they’re still an electoral organization at heart, and while they love initiative, she thinks it’s an excellent method of direct democracy and there really are a lot of studies showing it improves turnout, particularly in a mid-term year like 2022. She said they also run contenders alongside the ballot initiative to say, “If you want cannabis possession to be decriminalized in your city, make sure you vote for those contenders too, because they support you.”

West Virginia Can’t Wait supported a group of state legislative candidates running on the cannabis reform platform in 2020.

In the state of Texas, progressive organizers also want to put decriminalization of local cannabis on the state ballot this year. While the governor in West Virginia, while personally not a fan of cannabis legalization, said a couple of times last year that he would support reform if the legislature sent him a bill.

FINAL EFFECT

West Virginia’s cannabis advocates are trying to lobby the government for the will of residents to decriminalize marijuana. The initiative proposes a reform of the cannabis law to decriminalize it so that people are not jailed, fines are abolished and ridiculous charges are imposed for possession of insignificant amounts of cannabis. The West Virginia Can’t Wait are at the forefront of this initiative and in doing so also hope to elect a more progressive leader in the coming elections.

VIRGINIA ON WEED, READ ABOUT WEST VIRGINIA’S NEIGHBOR….

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