The Vermont Senate has voted to legalize recreational marijuana, putting the state back on path towards becoming the first in the country to legalize cannabis with its legislative body rather than a ballot measure.
Lawmakers in the Vermont Senate took a voice vote Wednesday in favor of a House-approved bill that lets adults 21 and over possess up to one ounce of marijuana and grow as many as four pot plants at a time, sending the legislation to Gov. Phil Scott’s desk where he’s expected to sign it.
Nearly eight months after vetoing a similar proposal over safety concerns, Mr. Scott’s signature is slated to make Vermont the ninth state in the nation to legalize recreational marijuana, albeit the first to rely on its elected lawmakers rather than the voting public.
“This is a big step forward for Vermont,” said Matt Simon, the New England political director for the Marijuana Policy Project, the nation’s largest marijuana policy organization. “Vermonters should be proud that their state is becoming the first to do this legislatively, rather than by ballot initiative.”
Coloradans voted to legalize recreational marijuana in 2012, and residents in seven other states and D.C. subsequently followed suit.
Marijuana is illegal under federal law, but the Obama administration enacted policies that allowed states to legalize the plant without triggering government intervention. The Trump administration rescinded those policies this month, however, causing confusion throughout legal weed states across the country.
Vermont’s Senate and House passed a similar marijuana legalization bill last year, but Mr. Scott vetoed it in May because he believed it lacked adequate safety measures. Lawmakers subsequently drafted a revised version addressing the governor’s concerns, and that bill passed the state House last week by a vote of 81 to 63.
“As Governor Scott said in June when he came to an agreement with the Legislature on revisions to the bill, he would sign the compromise bill if it made it to his desk, and he has not seen anything to change that position at this point,” the governor’s spokesperson said previously.
Six the states that have legalized recreational marijuana currently have laws in place that let adults purchase retail weed from legal dispensaries — Alaska, California, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon and Washington state. The Vermont bill won’t establish a system for regulating, taxing and selling the plant like in the states with retail weed laws in place, but Mr. Scott previously created a group tasked with weighing whether or not Vermont should join their ranks.
Vermont’s recreational marijuana law will take effect in July, assuming Mr. Scott signs it as expected.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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