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A bill that would decriminalize the possession of an ounce or less of marijuana has been introduced by state Sen. Adam P. Ebbin, D-Alexandria, for the coming General Assembly session.

The effort comes on the heels of legalization in two other states. Ebbin said there have been unsuccessful bills introduced in the Virginia House of Delegates in the past, but that this is the first he is aware of coming from the Senate.

“It would decriminalize simple possession of an ounce or less, but not decriminalize it to the extent done recently in Colorado and Washington state,” he said.

“I had requests to do it for a number of years, and I decided this year to go ahead,” Ebbin said. “There’s about 25 million Americans who smoked marijuana in the past year, and our public policy should start to reflect reality and not deny it.”

Edward McCann, policy director for Virginia NORML, which advocates for the legalization of marijuana, said he thinks chances are better than even the bill will get out of the Senate’s Courts of Justice committee.