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Vermont’s top marijuana regulator says a newly enacted law doubling the legal cannabis possession limit will help ongoing efforts to transition consumers from the illicit market to legal businesses. He also believes that provisions on interstate commerce could lead to the development of regional standards for the industry.
“Anything that removes a prohibition will hopefully encourage more consumers to purchase regulated cannabis,” James Pepper, chair of the Vermont Cannabis Control Board, told VTDigger.
Last month, Gov. Phil Scott (R) signed a bill allowing adults over the age of 21 to legally possess two ounces of marijuana or 10 grams of hashish—twice as much as they could previously.
The new law also takes steps to potentially enable interstate cannabis commerce, creates a pilot program for marijuana sales at events and makes other changes to rules for licensed businesses.
The enacted legislation allows the governor to enter into compacts with other states for cross-border cannabis trade, with the text noting that there is a “shifting federal posture on regulated cannabis markets” and saying it is “the intent of the General Assembly to prepare for the possibility of regional or interstate cannabis markets.”
A provision says that such agreements could only move forward if federal law is amended to allow for interstate transfer of cannabis, if a federal law is enacted that blocks use of agency funds to prevent such transfers, if the U.S. Department of Justice issues a memo allowing or tolerating such activity or if the state attorney general certifies that entering into interstate marijuana commerce agreements “will not result in significant legal risk to this State based on review of federal judicial decisions and administrative action.”
Pepper, the top marijuana regulator, told VTDigger that “if all of a sudden we wake up and the federal government is allowing for interstate commerce of cannabis products, we now have an easier path toward having regional standards for cannabis products.”
He added that the pilot program for events—which will allow on-site sales, but not consumption—provide a unique opportunity for cannabis growers.
“One complaint that the Legislature has heard consistently is that we don’t have an ability for a cultivator to kind of build their own brand,” he said. “There’s very little opportunity for a customer to know their grower and interact with the person that actually produced the cannabis that they’re purchasing.”
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The newly enacted law additionally says that housing rental agreements cannot prohibit tenants from “possessing cannabis or cannabis products within the rental premises or using cannabis or cannabis products within a dwelling unit, except that a rental agreement may prohibit the use of lighted cannabis or cannabis products intended for inhalation within the rental premises.”
It also eliminates the vertically integrated license type and reduces licensing fees for cannabis cultivation businesses, among other technical changes to current statute.
Earlier versions of the bill would have altered potency restrictions for cannabis products, reduced taxes and allowed on-site consumption licenses and delivery services, but those provisions were removed during the legislative process prior to final passage.
In 2018, Scott signed a bill to legalize marijuana possession and home cultivation and then allowed subsequent legislation to legalize commercial cannabis sales to take effect without his signature in 2020.
Tom Angell is the editor of Marijuana Moment. A 25-year veteran in the cannabis and drug law reform movement, he covers the policy, politics, science and culture of marijuana, psychedelics and other substances. He previously reported for Forbes, Marijuana.com and MassRoots, and was given the Hunter S. Thompson Media Award by NORML and has been named Journalist of the Year by Americans for Safe Access. As an activist, Tom founded the nonprofit Marijuana Majority and handled media relations, campaigns and lobbying for Law Enforcement Against Prohibition and Students for Sensible Drug Policy.
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