Herring wants to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana, pardon and expunge past convictions for marijuana possession and establish a framework to guide recreational use and sales of marijuana in the state.

Efforts to overhaul enforcement of marijuana laws have been repeatedly stymied by the state’s Republican-controlled legislature in recent years.

Dana Schrad, executive director of the Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police, said highlighting arrest figures does not tell the full story of how the state is handling marijuana cases.

“What you really need to know is how they pled or were they diverted,” Schrad said. “An arrest alone doesn’t mean that everyone went to jail. There is a myth that we are packing the jails with possession cases. The prison sentences are going to distributors.”

Schrad said the increase in arrests could be in part an artifact of better reporting by police departments in recent years. Schrad said VACP is taking a wait-and-see approach.

Eleven states and the District of Columbia have legalized pot for recreational use, while others have lessened penalties for being caught with the drug. Virginia has taken steps on medical marijuana, granting permission for five producers to begin selling THC-infused products this year.