Wednesday, January 10, 2018
The Vermont Senate voted Wednesday to legalize marijuana in the state, starting in July.
The legislation, which passed the Vermont House last week and won approval in the Senate by a voice vote, now goes to Gov. Phil Scott’s desk. The first-term Republican has said he would sign it into law. That would make Vermont the first state to legalize the recreational use of marijuana through legislative action, rather than a referendum.
The Senate made quick work of the bill Wednesday afternoon, approving it with virtually no discussion, just minutes after convening for the day. The institution has debated the subject at length in recent years — voting in 2016 and 2017 to legalize the drug.
In brief remarks on the Senate floor Wednesday, Senate President Pro Tempore Tim Ashe (D/P-Chittenden) thanked colleagues who opposed the legislation but nevertheless worked to improve the bill.
Later Wednesday, he characterized the vote as “a step in a process to a more rational system.”
Tags: Cannabeat , cannabis reform , marijuana , Vermont Senate , legislature , Image , Web Only
Thursday, January 4, 2018
The early evening vote capped a daylong debate, during which a flurry of last-minute amendments and procedural tactics had legalization proponents rooting against establishment of a retail pot market and opponents advocating for one.
The bill now returns to the Vermont Senate, which, like the House, passed a version of the legislation last year. If the Senate approves it without changes, the bill could land on Gov. Phil Scott’s desk within weeks. The Republican, who vetoed a similar version last year, has said he would sign it this time.
If the bill becomes law, possession of up to an ounce of weed would be legal in Vermont for those 21 and older, starting in July. The legislation also allows possession of four immature and two mature pot plants.
Tags: Cannabeat , cannabis reform , marijuana , Vermont House , politics , legalization , cannabis , Don Turner , Chip Conquest , Kurt Wright , Phil Scott , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, January 3, 2018
Members of the House Judiciary Committee approved a minor change to a bill that would legalize possession of up to an ounce of marijuana for those 21 and older — and the cultivation of two mature and four immature pot plants. It would take effect in July.
The move sets up a vote on the House floor Thursday and, if the bill passes, a Senate vote as early as next week. Gov. Phil Scott, a Republican, has said he would sign such a measure into law if it reached his desk in its current form.
Tags: Cannabeat , cannabis policy , marijuana , Maxine Grad , Dick Sears , Phil Scott , legalization , legislature , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, November 29, 2017
“I am confident this will save people's lives,” George said, during an interview Monday ahead of a public announcement Wednesday morning. “That’s good enough for me.”
These facilities, George suggested, will help Vermont address its opioid epidemic, which caused an unprecedented number of overdose fatalities in the state last year.
Safe injection facilities provide users with clean needles and medical supervision. Users arrive with their own drugs, without risking arrest.
The endorsement from Chittenden County's top prosecutor could help galvanize a legislative effort to establish such facilities in Vermont. Lawmakers introduced bills in both the House and Senate last January, but the legislation languished.
George said she was initially skeptical when a deputy told her about the concept last February. “I had never heard of them before, [and] frankly, I was pretty turned off by the idea,” George recalled.
Despite her qualms, the new state’s attorney assembled a commission of medical professionals, law enforcement and other stakeholders to study the idea. Following the commission's recommendation, George said she believes the state should legalize safe injection sites.
Tags: safe injection facility , Sarah George , Chittenden County , Vermont legislature , Image , Web Only
Friday, November 24, 2017
While the federal Canadian legislation would allow people to grow small amounts of marijuana at home, Québec wouldn't allow it, under draft legislation written by the province's ruling Liberal Party.
The federal government has mandated nationwide marijuana legalization by July 1, while leaving details to the country's provinces. Like Vermont, Québec already has legal medical marijuana and is struggling to develop a framework for broader legalization.
Tags: cannabeat , marijuana , Québec , legalization , driving under the influence , Image , Web Only
Friday, November 10, 2017
The Bay State plans to hire a cannabis inspector to work in its Department of Agricultural Resources. The November 3 job posting is open until the position is filled, but those applying in the first 14 days will get precedence.
“This inspector position will enforce the laws and regulations involving hemp and overlapping laws and regulations that impact the cultivation of marijuana,” the posting reads.
Tags: Cannabeat , marijuana , Massachusetts , cannabis legalization , cannabis , cannabis jobs , cannabiz , cannabis agriculture , cannabis policy , hemp , Image , Web Only
Thursday, November 9, 2017
At a widely covered press conference in December 2015, then-governor Peter
Shumlin announced that a $3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services would allow the state to start providing Vivitrol to inmates about to be released from prison, as well as to patients at residential treatment facilities.
Vivitrol reduces cravings and blocks opiate highs for about a month. For inmates who haven't been able to access treatment such as methadone or Suboxone while in prison, it can serve as a bridge, giving them some stability while they line up a longer-term recovery plan. Studies have shown that recently incarcerated people are at a heightened risk of overdosing.
The initiative attracted national attention when it was launched, but it's only benefited a handful of inmates. DOC has administered 11 injections since the start of the three-year pilot in 2016 — 10 at Marble Valley Regional Correctional Facility in Rutland, where the program was first launched, and one at Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility in South Burlington.
“That doesn’t sound like a lot, but it’s a lot compared to what we started with. For months and months and months we were at one person, so an increase to 11 is actually pretty good,” said Corrections Commissioner Lisa Menard.
Tags: Vermont Department of Corrections , Lisa Menard , Vivitrol , Peter Shumlin , addiction , Image , Web Only
Thursday, September 28, 2017
"We're going through these meetings with the assumption that some form of legalization is going to happen," said Public Safety Commissioner Tom Anderson. "The question is, how do we address it?"
Other states that legalized cannabis through voter referenda were forced to "build the plane while flying it," said Jaye Pershing Johnson, the governor's legal counsel. "We have the opportunity to build the plane and avoid the unintended consequences that other states have encountered."
The governor created the commission via executive order in August after he vetoed a bill that would have created a legislative commission and established a pathway to legalization. Scott's panel is charged with investigating three primary areas: taxation and regulation, education and prevention, and highway safety.
Tags: Phil Scott , Tom Anderson , Maxine Grad , Mark Levine , Jaye Pershing Johnson , Joe Benning , Joe Flynn , marijuana commission , Image , Web Only
Thursday, September 14, 2017
Scott appeared with a brace of administration officials, Democratic officeholders and health care providers at Burlington's Howard Center to declare that, in Chittenden County, there is no longer a waiting list for addiction treatment services. Elsewhere in the state, he said, waits had been reduced.
The Republican governor began the press conference with a shoutout to his predecessor, Democrat Peter Shumlin, for prioritizing the opioid crisis, and made it clear that his own team had continued “the strong work of the previous administration in this area.”
He went on to credit Burlington’s Democratic mayor, Miro Weinberger, Democratic Attorney General T.J. Donovan and the predominantly Democratic state legislature. And while plenty of Dem officeholders were on hand, Scott was the only Republican elected official in the room.
Tags: Phil Scott , T.J. Donovan , Miro Weinberger , Bob Bick , Mark Levine , Eileen Whalen , Al Gobeille , Brandon del Pozo , Howard Center , Image , Web Only
Monday, August 7, 2017
Scott, speaking to reporters after an unrelated event in Shelburne, declined to say who would lead or serve on the commission. Vermont legislators had hoped to create a panel that would make recommendations for how the state might tax and regulate marijuana. Scott said his focus, and the makeup of his panel, will be different.
The commission’s priority will be to look at highway safety, he said. Chief among his legalization concerns is that no convenient roadside test exists to measure a driver’s impairment from marijuana.
Tags: Cannabeat , marijuana legalization , Phil Scott , Vermont legislature , Image , Web Only