Vermont lawmakers took quick action toward legalizing marijuana Wednesday, mere hours after the opening gavel of the 2018 legislative session.
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.
Rep. Maxine Grad (D-Moretown), who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, marveled Wednesday at the bill’s newfound momentum.
“This is usually something that happens at the very end of the session … so it’s unusual for us to be, boom, starting with it right away,” she said shortly after her panel signed off on the latest iteration.
Both the House and Senate passed similar legislation last year, but Scott vetoed it, citing concerns about highway safety and use by minors. Legislators ran out of time during a veto session last June before a compromise bill — increasing penalties for those driving with marijuana and providing it to minors — could garner a vote in the House.
On Wednesday, the House Judiciary Committee voted 8 to 1, with two members absent, to remove from the bill a legislative commission that would effectively duplicate the work of a commission the governor created last summer.
Grad said she was confident the latest version would pass the House on Thursday and later win Scott’s approval.
“I haven’t talked to the governor personally, but certainly I’ve been working closely with his staff and addressing not only his concerns, but I think they’re shared concerns, especially with youth and highway safety,” she said.
Sen. Chris Pearson (P/D-Chittenden), a leading legalization advocate, said Wednesday that he’s confident the Senate would again back the bill, even though it fell short of the tax-and-regulate model his chamber initially approved last year.
A Scott spokesperson, Rebecca Kelley, indicated that the governor, too, was onboard.
“As Gov. Scott said in June when he came to an agreement with the legislature on revisions to the bill he vetoed … he would sign the compromise bill if it made it to his desk,” Kelley said. “So, barring any changes to the bill — and while it is not a priority for him — he expects to sign it.”
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The National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD conducts marijuana studies all the time. They use marijuana grown by the University of Mississippi. They give people joints to smoke, use Volcano vaporizers, and bake marijuana brownies that they feed to people. If marijuana was dangerous, NIH would absolutely not give people marijuana to smoke, vaporize, and eat every year for decades. Here’s a few excerpts from one very recent study, read the last part that describes how they baked marijuana brownies. The illegality if marijuana is a sick joke because our leaders know that it is safe. NIH has plenty of published scientific evidence that demonstrates the safety and medical value of marijuana. Also note that the DEA allows the importation and sale of hemp extracts that contain every cannabinoid and other compounds that exist marijuana. THC is legal if its concentration is below 0.3 percent. Marinol is a legal prescription medication that is almost pure THC.
Free and Glucuronide Whole Blood Cannabinoids’ Pharmacokinetics after Controlled Smoked, Vaporized, and Oral Cannabis Administration in Frequent and Occasional Cannabis Users: Identification of Recent Cannabis Intake
Research Funding: M.N. Newmeyer, The Intramural Research Program, National Institute on Drug Abuse, NIH, to institution; M. Huestis, The Intramural Research Program, National Institute on Drug Abuse, NIH, to institution
Oral cannabis doses were prepared with Duncan Hines Double Fudge brownie mix according to the manufacturer’s instructions for cake-like brownies. Individual, equal portions of the wet batter were poured into a muffin container. The contents of either an active or placebo cigarette were ground, baked for 30 min at 121 C in aluminum foil, and mixed into one individual portion. Following baking and cooling, individual doses were stored frozen, but allowed to thaw refrigerated overnight before dosing.
Is pot what you talk about when you wish to avoid more pressing issues facing far more Vermonters like the existing substance abuse crisis, high taxes and other affordability issues? Pot is a boutique issue and it’s prioritization reveals an indifference by the legislature to address more pressing concerns faced by far more Vermonters struggling to just make ends meet.
The US government’s stance on cannabis is a blatant bald-faced lie. More evidence comes out every day proving that cannabis is far safer than alcoholic beverages or tobacco products. The DEA drug schedule has absolutely nothing to do with public safety and everything to do with politics and government corruption.
According to the DEA cannabis has no medical value and is more dangerous than Methamphetamine, Cocaine or Fentanyl!! Note also that Tobacco and Alcohol are not even on the DEA drug schedule.
* Schedule 1 (most dangerous drugs with no medical value):
Heroin, LSD, Marijuana (cannabis), MDA (ecstasy)
* Schedule 2 (supposedly less dangerous than cannabis):
Cocaine, Methamphetamine, Oxycodone, Fentanyl, Dexedrine.
* Schedule 3 (supposedly less dangerous than cannabis):
Tylenol with codeine, Ketamine, Anabolic steroids, Testosterone.
Now compare the DEA drug schedule with figures directly from the CDC on numbers of deaths per year in the USA:
* Prescription Drugs: 237,485 + 5,000 traffic fatalities
* Tobacco: 480,000
* Alcohol: 88,013 + 16,000 traffic fatalities
* Cocaine: 4,906
* Heroin: 7,200
* Aspirin: 466
* Acetaminophen (Tylenol): 179
* Marijuana: 0, none, not a single fatal toxic overdose and almost no history of traffic problems.
So, which is safer???? Legalize, regulate, and TAX!
Vermont legislators, your greed for more money knows no bounds. On one hand you cry about the opium epidemic and on the other you virtually encourage the use of marijuana as though it were a health promoting product with no ill consequences. Personally, I don’t care if all druggies o.d. and die, but I find our so-called responsible legislators to be hypocritical idiots to open wider the doors to any and all forms of drug abuse. Next we will be embracing opium.
It’s about time.
Can someone please address the legalization bill that is to be implemented in July: clearly, anyone hoping to raise a crop of marijuana will want to plant by May. Will the new law allow this action, retroactively, or will law enforcement be asked to overlook the preplanting due to the law becoming effective in July? Or is this a trap, a catch 22 to entrap people? Haven’t yet gotten a reply on this question from a reporter that I have repeated tweeted this question to. :-p