Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D) has proposed amendments to marijuana legislation that include delaying the launch of a recreational sales marketplace for adults.
The governor’s substitute for HB 642 and SB 542 would move the start of the legal retail market for marijuana from Jan. 1 to July, 1, 2027. It also changes marijuana possession limit from 2.5 to 2 ounces — still up from the current 1-ounce possession limit — and reduced the number of permitted stores from 350 to 200 until Jan. 1, 2029.
More than $2 million in narcotics were seized by law enforcement earlier this month after a “regional drug trafficking organization” was found to be operating 13 vape stores in Fairfax County.
Hundreds of pounds of marijuana, as well as approximately 40 pounds of suspected mushroom-infused gummies, unknown pills and more were among the items recovered, the Fairfax County Police Department announced yesterday (Wednesday).
Mark Crutchfield said his son Brandon was a typical teenager with a quick wit, a love for sports and acting and a knack for making others laugh — until he lost his life to a fentanyl overdose Nov. 4, 2022 at 20 years old.
Crutchfield, a Fairfax County resident and licensed counselor working in addiction treatment, said his son was raised on a strong anti-drug message, and he believed his son understood the risks of drug use. But, as the grieving father says, drugs do not discriminate.
Fairfax County saw no year-over-year change, but across the D.C. region overall, deaths connected to impaired driving were down 26% from 2023 to 2024, according to new data.
The recently released annual “How Safe Are Our Roads? Report” by the Washington Regional Alcohol Program (WRAP) and Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments recorded 74 fatalities connected to alcohol- and/or drug-related vehicle incidents last year — 100 fewer deaths than in the previous year and below the five-year average of 90.
A Vienna man was convicted today (Monday) of murdering his girlfriend while camping in Burke Lake Park in 2023.
Rami El-Sayed, 36, was convicted on one count each of first-degree murder and concealment of a dead body, the Fairfax County Commonwealth Attorney’s Office announced.
After months of hearings and study, the legislature’s Joint Commission on the Future of Cannabis Sales is poised to roll out a final proposal Tuesday that would launch a legal, regulated adult-use cannabis retail market in Virginia — potentially ending five years of economic and legal uncertainty since the commonwealth legalized possession and cultivation in 2021.
The latest version — sponsored by Commission Chair Paul Krizek, D-Fairfax, in the House of Delegates and Sens. Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, and Aaron Rouse, D-Virginia Beach, in the Senate — scraps the controversial local-opt-out clause, increases local taxing authority and builds a licensing regime designed to privilege small, independent, Virginia-based businesses over large medical-marijuana operators.
Having seen a major drop in opioid overdoses among teens, some Fairfax County supervisors want to focus prevention efforts on young adults.
The 18-to-24 and 25-to-34 age groups appear to be where services need to be intensified, Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay said during a Nov. 25 briefing on the county’s opioid services.
An Annandale-based drug dealer will spend the next 15 years in federal prison for possessing nearly 10,000 fentanyl pills with an apparent intent to distribute them.
Marcantonio Juarez Velasquez, 20, was sentenced yesterday (Thursday) in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia — more than a year after his arrest, according to court records.
A 27-year-old man appears to have fatally overdosed on Sunday (Oct. 26) in Bailey’s Crossroads, shortly after allegedly injuring another man.
Officers initially responded to the 5900 block of Seminary Road around 2:45 p.m. for a report of a malicious wounding. Upon arriving, they found both the injured man and the 27-year-old man, who was believed to be “the suspect involved in the malicious wounding,” the Fairfax County Police Department said.
Inova Health on Wednesday released new data finding nearly half of adults in Northern Virginia are either personally impacted by substance use or know someone who is, with even higher numbers among millennials.
The survey data is part of Inova’s Act on Addiction Campaign, which aims to spark dialogue around the realities of substance use, promote harm reduction and prevention strategies, reduce stigma and highlight the impact addiction has on families and communities, according to a news release.
