virginia

Researchers in southwest Virginia are looking to nature in an effort to provide diversity and collaboration in bringing back the economy. An ongoing project at the University of Virginia at Wise is looking at the production of hemp as a potential boost. The researchers believe this could be the...

Lieutenant Governor Ralph Northam has submitted a letter to the Virginia State Crime Commission on Monday calling for the decriminalization of marijuana. In the letter, Northam says Virginia's marijuana enforcement and sentencing laws are costly and "disproportionately harmful to communities...

Yes, the world really has turned upside down: We now have Republicans endorsing cannabis. Well, not just any kind of cannabis. Last week, unbeknownst to each other, both U.S. Rep. Bob Goodlatte and Republican gubernatorial candidate Ed Gillespie endorsed the strain of cannabis popularly...

Hemp farming could be making a comeback in Virginia after being legal for decades. Researchers are growing the plant at Virginia State University, which is one of three universities in the state studying hemp as a possible cash crop for Virginia. Hemp farming has been illegal for the past 70...

Republican gubernatorial candidate Ed Gillespie supports industrial hemp, and he's not just blowing smoke. Gillespie, who along with Democratic gubernatorial nominee Ralph Northam participated in an agricultural forum at Virginia Western Community College in Roanoke on Friday, championed...

Off a small service road at Kentland Farm, Virginia Tech graduate student Jabari Byrd is growing cannabis with his professor. Now this plot isn't part of any illicit plan. It's a piece of research at Tech that's leading the state into a new era of studying industrial hemp, and it's fully...

Three universities in Virginia are conducting research on industrial hemp after the state legalized cultivation of the crop for research purposes two years ago. The Roanoke Times reports that Virginia Tech, James Madison University and Virginia State University are researching different uses...

A first-of-its-kind public event on industrial hemp will be held Aug. 17 at Virginia State University’s Randolph Farm. The field day will be open to potential growers, researchers, marketing experts and industrial hemp producers to discuss the future of the crop in Virginia and neighboring...

On Saturday, several new laws will go into effect in Virginia. One will help more people keep their driver's license after being charged with marijuana possession. It will allow a judge to opt for additional community service instead of automatically suspending someone's driver's license for...

West Virginia officials say they're in the early stages of developing a plan to implement the state's new medical marijuana law. The state Department of Health and Human Resources has devoted a section of its website to frequently asked questions and more information, the Charleston...

The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources is "in the preliminary stage" of developing a plan for implementation of West Virginia's medical marijuana law, according to state officials, and has devoted a section of its website to frequently asked questions and more information...

Congressman Tom Garrett is again pushing Congress to decriminalize marijuana at the federal level. On Wednesday, Garrett was joined by families who helped pass medical marijuana legislation in Virginia. Two years ago, Lisa Smith asked Virginia lawmakers to pass a law allowing her daughter...

Medical marijuana is on its way to West Virginia, although it will be more than two years before it arrives and doctors may start prescribing it for patients. A bill legalizing the use of medical cannibis has been signed into law by Gov. Jim Justice, but the drug won't be available to users...

West Virginia is looking for its next niche crop. The West Virginia Hemp Industries Association (WVHIA) believes this niche crop is industrial hemp. The WVHIA has launched a Go Fund Me campaign to support industrial hemp as the stateâ€s new niche crop, said J. Morgan Leach, of Vienna...

The 2017 Virginia Cannabis Conference got off to an early morning start, with the motivated group of marijuana reform advocates who had gathered at the Hampton Inn & Suites in Downtown Richmond ready to take on the world.... or at least the Commonwealth. This group's goal was to learn how to...

Richmond, Va. - Inching toward marijuana law reform in Virginia: a state Senate Committee on Monday approved a bill that would get rid of an existing law, and the same panel also ordered up a study on the possibility of decriminalization. Senate Bill 1091 revises the existing provision in...

Politically, Virginia has come to be viewed as somewhat "purple," a mixture of southern conservatism and liberalizing suburbs, and weed activists now see it at the tipping point for legal marijuana. But could it go green? Probably not all at once. The Arlington County Civic Federation, made up...

The Senate's majority leader last week requested that a state criminal justice agency examine Virginia's marijuana laws in light of recent national developments - and then weigh in on what kinds of changes might make sense. Sen. Thomas K. "Tommy" Norment Jr., R-James City, made headlines last...

The number of marijuana arrests in Virginia has fallen significantly in the last few years. The Daily Press reports that charges for marijuana offenses dropped by 14 percent statewide over two years. It's the largest two-year drop in at least 15 years. According to figures from the Virginia...

Richmond - Marty Phipps started a business this year selling an innovative type of bedding for horses and small animals - a shredded substance that absorbs liquids, resists microbes and cuts down on smell. But because the product is made with hemp, which is the same plant species as marijuana...