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Terri Hallenbeck
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Rep. Chip Conquest (D-Newbury) speaks about decriminalizing homegrown marijuana Tuesday on the House floor.
The House shot down a Senate bill Tuesday that would have legalized the sale and possession of marijuana starting in 2018.
Still up for consideration in the House on Tuesday afternoon is a separate measure to decriminalize home cultivation of up to two marijuana plants. It’s unclear whether that will pass.
But first came a vote on the Senate’s version. By
a 121-28 vote, the House nixed all provisions related to legalizing, taxing and regulating marijuana from the bill.
Though that effort passed the Senate 17-12 and had the support of Gov. Peter Shumlin, House leaders had long signaled that legalization lacked support among their members. Tuesday’s vote affirmed that.
Rep. Chris Pearson (P-Burlington) tried to persuade members otherwise, questioning why it’s OK for Vermonters to sip chardonnay in the evening but not use cannabis. It’s time to
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Terri Hallenbeck
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House Judiciary Committee chair Maxine Grad (D-Moretown), vice chair Willem Jewett (D-Ripton), center, and Senate Judiciary Committee chair Dick Sears (D-Bennington) talk in a Statehouse hallway Tuesday.
change the conversation about marijuana, he said.
“We are just in a wildly unhealthy area of dialogue about what it means and what it doesn’t mean,” Pearson said.
Rep. John Bartholomew (D-Hartland) agreed. “Prohibition has not worked and never will. It’s time to try something else,” he said.
House Judiciary Committee chair Maxine Grad (D-Moretown), whose committee has struggled to embrace legalization, argued that the Senate bill would open the door to a large-scale commercial marijuana market. “S. 241 is not the Vermont way,” she said.