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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 20, 2021 – Richmond, VA
The Libertarian Party of Virginia Celebrates Legal Adult Use of Marijuana
RICHMOND, VA – The Libertarian Party of Virginia is taking a ‘victory lap’ tomorrow for fifty years of advocating legal adult use of marijuana.
From its founding fifty years ago, in 1971, the Libertarian Party has stood against marijuana prohibition. The current LP State Central Committee chair, Dominick Dunbar of Stafford says, “Libertarians have consistently been the most prominent proponents of legal adult, medical and industrial use of marijuana and hemp in Virginia.”
Roy Scherer, long-time LP member now living in Petersburg, was “called to testify at the state Capitol–over and over–as Virginia’s first registered marijuana lobbyist” since his first effort in 1972. (quoting the Richmond Times-Dispatch Feb 9, 1992).
Famously, on Feb. 18, 1977, Scherer highlighted a problem with “drug manufacturing” legislation by passing around a small seedling marijuana plant in a General Assembly committee then pointing out during his testimony that the members could be felons for handling the seedling as they passed it around. Scherer was arrested but acquitted of possession on appeal.
Lennice Werth, of Crewe who founded Business Alliance for Commerce in Hemp (BACH) and Virginians Against Drug Violence in 1990, has been covered for her marijuana anti-prohibition advocacy by every major newspaper in Virginia through the decades. In July 1991, the Associated Press led a report on Lennice’s efforts with, “Marijuana gets a bad rap, say an unlikely pair of lobbyists intent on legalizing the weed best known for its narcotic properties.”
“Those days of prohibition, stigmatization and incarceration are thankfully, finally over in Virginia”, said former Richmond candidate for Congress (1980), LP national committee chair and NORML board member, Jim Turney, now serving as elected city commissioner in Altamonte Springs, Florida.
“Expunge the records of those previously charged” with marijuana offenses, says Tim Lewis, the LP candidate for House of Delegates in Fredericksburg’s 88th District (https://www.Tim4VA.com/blog-1/marijuana). “…it is time to help restore the lives of those damaged.”
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