A bill that would legalize the sale of marijuana starting in 2018 won a key 4-1 vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee on Friday.
“It’s a huge step in the right direction,” said Sen. Jeanette White (D-Windham), a legalization supporter. She acknowledged the bill does not go as far as she would like. It would not, she noted, legalize home growing of marijuana.
The bill would allow Vermont residents to legally possess up to an ounce of marijuana and for out-of-staters to have a quarter of an ounce. The state would issue permits to up to 30 growers of varying sizes and to 20 to 40 marijuana stores.* Revenue raised would go entirely to drug treatment and prevention, law enforcement and implementation of legalization.
The bill, which still has to clear the Senate’s Finance and Appropriations committees, appears headed for a vote on the Senate floor.
Next week, the Senate Finance Committee will consider how much marijuana should be taxed under the bill. Committee chair Tim Ashe (D/P-Chittenden) said other states have a tax of 25 to 37 percent of the product’s value. He said his committee will vote the bill out by next Friday.
Sen. Alice Nitka (D-Windsor) cast the lone vote against the bill Friday. She said afterward her main concern is that legalization will encourage more youths to consume the drug.
Senate President Pro Tempore John Campbell (D-Windsor), who opposes legalization, said he’s agreed not to derail the bill and predicted it will reach the Senate floor for a vote.
“I think it’s going to be a close vote,” Campbell said.
Senate Minority Leader Joe Benning (R-Caledonia), a legalization supporter who voted for the bill in committee, predicted it would pass, in large part because of its endorsement by Senate Judiciary Committee chair Dick Sears (D-Bennington).
“The fact that the chair, who a year and a half ago was convinced this wouldn’t happen on his watch, for him to come around is a significant event,” Benning said.
Correction, January 29, 2016: This story originally reported that the bill would allow 10 to 20 growers, as stated in an earlier version of the text. The version that passed the Senate Judiciary Committee allows for up to 30 growers.
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Nice to see law enforcement squeezing their actual reason for opposing legalization in there. Why isn’t any of the tax revenue being used for foundational education? Funneling all the money that will be generated by the legalization into law enforcement is foolish, since I’m sure the federal government will legalize it across the board at some point in the future, leaving VT struggling to find yet a new revenue source to support law enforcement. I’m in support of a portion of the proceeds going to law enforcement, but the vast majority should go towards improving the education of of young Vermonters.
The majority of tax revenue should go to education, not law enforcement and drug treatment. I do support portions of the revenue going towards helping with the need for heroin related treatment, but law enforcement does not need more. Its been shown that legalization would save law enforcement spending, so why should it also give them revenue over the schools? It also wouldn’t be bad to see some of that revenue put towards roadway infrastructure and the DOT. Its also particularly offensive that this would not legalize personal cultivation of at least a few plants. Shame to see this bill merely favoring the few who stand to profit from regulation, and not even attempting to give back to the state beyond that.