The Vermont Legislature may soon be tweaking parts of its signature tax and regulate cannabis law that was passed last year.
According to Calvin Cutler of WCAX, advocates are pushing for more changes aimed at agricultural and racial equity before the law begins.
It was in 2020 that the state’s governor Phil Scot had allowed marijuana sales to become a law without his signature. He has said the bill would need more work when it comes to education, racial justice, and prevention. Members still need to be appointed to the state’s cannabis control board.
“It’s kind of frustrating but it’s understandable,” said Sen. Joe Benning, R-Caledonia County, “we’re in the middle of a worldwide pandemic.”
The new bill will add low-interest loans for marginalized communities to set up shops and clarification on towns being able to opt-in for retail sales.
The state’s agriculture community has also chimed in. “There has not been an opportunity for cultivators, growers, farmers to have their voices heard on this issue.
From our perspective, this is an agricultural issue,” said Graham Unangst-Rufenacht with the group Rural Vermont.
The Racial Justice Alliance’s Mark Hughes has remarked, We’re down the road, we’ve got it out of the gate. So, now what we’re doing is in-flight plane construction and we’re hoping to be able to get retrofitted with some additional language.”
According to the lawmakers, some of these changes would conflict with the original intent of the bill, which set aside money for police training and substance use education. “That obviously will have an impact on those three things that we moved very hard to put in this bill — to make sure we needed to be taking care of things that needed to be taken care of,” Sen. Benning commented.
27 towns next week will vote on Town Meeting Day on whether to opt-in to the retail market.