By Tom Angell

 

Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe made headlines this month by being pictured with Willie Nelson and — unbeknownst to the state executive — a batch of the country musician’s own brand of marijuana.

The incident led to McAuliffe being questioned on Wednesday about his positions on cannabis laws.

“I do not support legalization of marijuana in Virginia,” McAuliffe, a Democrat, said in an interview with WTOP radio. “I do support it for medicinal purposes. I will sign any bill you can get to me, because I’m a big believer in that.”

But he says he’s not at all hopeful the Virginia General Assembly will send any cannabis legislation to his desk before the end of his term, a little more than a year from now. Of legislative leaders, he said, “I can’t imagine that they are chomping at the bit to get a marijuana legalization bill through next January… It’s not going to happen.”

On full legalization, McAuliffe said he “can’t get comfortable myself personally” with ending prohibition, claiming it’s “created a lot of problems” in states that have tried it, even though it has generated significant tax revenue.

“At some point, revenue is not worth the cost, the human cost, the human toll, what it does to your workforce,” he said.

Advocates appreciate the governor’s support for medical marijuana, but they want him to do more to help make it a reality in the state sooner rather than later.

“There have been numerous bills introduced in both legislative bodies in Virginia, yet they are never heard,” T.J. Thompson, a disabled Navy veteran in Virginia, told Marijuana.com in an interview.

Thompson and other advocates feel McAuliffe hasn’t done enough to pressure state lawmakers to make enacting a broader law a priority. Among other things, it has been suggested that he could mention the issue in his State of the Commonwealth address in January.

Last year and this year the governor signed bills into law allowing people with severe epilepsy disorders to use cannabis preparations containing high concentrations of CBD and THC-A with small amounts of THC.

In the Wednesday radio appearance McAuliffe called the limited law “a game changer for families that have specific illnesses,” saying that the cannabis oil “is something that can give them productive life.”

But the policy only applies to small number of people and leaves medical marijuana use to treat conditions like cancer, AIDs and multiple sclerosis criminalized.

In a 2014 interview, McAuliffe told WTOP that he when he was growing up a next door neighbor found relief from cancer by using medical cannabis.

Last year a Quinnipiac poll found that Virginia voters favor medical marijuana by a margin of 86 percent to 11 percent and that 54 percent support full legalization.

Twenty-five U.S. states now have comprehensive medical cannabis laws, and Arkansas, Florida and North Dakota voters will consider ballot measures to enact similar policies this November.