RICHMOND, Va. -- It's been nearly two weeks since President Joe Biden issued an executive order to grant pardons to those with simple marijuana possession charges.
One of the lingering questions has been what impact this could have at a state level, as President Biden has urged state governors to follow his lead and issue their own pardons.
Sara Dimick, executive director of OAR of Richmond, said they serve about 4,500 Virginians, and these state pardons could help more than half of them.
"If we look at what a criminal conviction does to someone, it impacts life completely," Dimick explained. "It can impact getting a job, housing, family relations, you name it, it impacts your life, and in Virginia, it doesn't go away. So once you have this conviction on your record, it's there. No matter if a job says we're only doing a 10-year background check, it's still gonna show up."
Last year, the Virginia General Assembly made it legal for individuals 21 and older to own up to an ounce of marijuana, and home cultivation was also legalized. That means Virginia no longer issues simple possession charges.
"This is a good step," said Dimick. "But we didn't go far enough."
Retail cannabis sales won’t start in the state until at least 2024, and another new law that would automatically expunge records won’t happen until 2025.
"My message is to take the lead," she noted. "It's time for Virginia to look at this to really go further than what we've done, and to look at who's in our jails and prisons and why they're there. And the simple possessions, those folks do not need to be in jail, that is not the place for them."
OAR does note these pardons at the state level wouldn’t actually get that many people out of jail because most people serving time with simple possession charges on their records are also facing other charges.
CBS 6 reached out to Governor Glenn Youngkin’s team to see if he’s made a decision about whether or not to issue these pardons, and his team said he’s still reviewing President Biden’s executive action.
