Virginians Against Drug Violence

Virginians Against Drug Violence, or VADV, is an organization devoted to ending the drug war in Virginia. It reviews the Virginia General Assembly's bills every year, sending out emails to a network of citizens and urging them to contact their legislators on relevant issues. VADV activists persuaded the legislature to carve out an exemption in the marijuana cultivation law so that individuals growing cannabis for their own use would be prosecuted only for simple possession. Virginia thus has more lenient laws on cultivation than even California. In addition, VADV activists successfully lobbied the General Assembly to keep medical marijuana legal for cancer and glaucoma, and to put marijuana in a class by itself, as opposed to being a scheduled controlled substance.