2024 Policy Agenda

These policies represent foundational issues, such as directing cannabis excise tax dollars back into people and communities, restoring justice to those harmed by prohibition, and ensuring harm does not continue for possessing, consuming, or growing cannabis. We urge policymaker prioritize these issues above all else. Vermont should not advance its adult-use market any further without enacting these policies.

• Devote 10% of the cannabis excise tax to the Cannabis Business Development Fund and 20% to the Community Reinvestment Fund, and allocate funding to the Land Access and Opportunity Board, Health Equity Advisory Commission, and other state agencies working on equity and dismantling system racism in accordance with the Vermont Cannabis Equity Coalition recommendations..

• Expunge all cannabis-related charges for every Vermont resident, no matter the possession quantity or plant count and cost-free.

• Allow for the public consumption of cannabis anywhere tobacco is allowed.

• Allow for non-homeowners to consume and grow unless their landlord or property owner specifically prohibits it.

The structure of the adult-use market is tied directly to the equity and fairness it affords people and businesses. In this section, we seek to reform existing licenses, use scale-appropriate regulations to expand allowances for small producers, remove larger tiers of production, and more.

• Expand the allowances for Cultivator Tier 1-2 to allow for cannabis flower, seeds, and immature plants that the licensee principally produced themselves to be sold to the public, and cannabis products produced by a manufacturer using cannabis principally produced by the cultivator, with reasonable regulation to be defined by and oversight to be performed by Cannabis Control Board.

• Expand the allowances for Manufacturer Tiers 1-2 to allow for cannabis products that the licensee produces themselves to be sold to the public, with reasonable direct-to-consumer sales caps, such as gross annual income, and regulation to be defined by and oversight to be performed by the Cannabis Control Board.

• Expand the allowances for all manufacturers to allow for the purchase, possession, and wholesale of cannabis to other licensees.

• Increase the manufacturer tier 1 license gross cap to $125,000.

• Lift the ban on delivery, and allow licensees with direct-market access to delivery to the general public, with reasonable regulations to be defined by and oversight to be performed by the Cannabis Control Board.

• Amend the nursery license to include the allowance to buy living plants from cultivators and wholesalers, and the allowance to sell living plants to cultivators, wholesalers, and the public.

• Strike the Cultivation Tier 4-6 (Indoor, Mixed-Use, and Outdoor) from the licensing structure and develop a transition plan for licensees in those tiers.

Cannabis is a plant, its flowers are an agricultural commodity, and the cultivation of cannabis is farming. Though we may be limited in what a state can do absent federal cannabis reform, VGA will pursue the agricultural designation of cannabis in Vermont and changes at the Federal level. These policies reflect the continuation of that fight.

• Expand the agricultural benefits as outlined in Act 158 (2022) and Act 65 (2023) to allow for nonabutting SPANs, to allow cultivation on a parcel of land in relation to wetland designation, and to allow for the same employment benefits as farming, including more than 1 employee, seasonal workers, etc.

• Exempt farm buildings used by licensed outdoor cannabis cultivators, and the outdoor portion of mixed-use cultivators, from the definition of “public building” subject to fire safety requirements.

• Lift federal and state conflicts that exist around current-use, land trust, hemp licensing conflicts, and other related issues.

• Direct the CCB to work with the Agency of Agriculture Food and Markets to establish an appellation program for cannabis defining and recognizing, at minimum, the specific geographical area the cannabis was grown and the production standards, and once adopted, should accept applications to create an Appellation of Origin.

Vermont has some of the most onerous prohibitions and restrictions in the country with its THC caps on cannabis flower and concentrates, and dosing and packaging limitations on manufactured products. It was the first state to enact THC caps in an adult-use market, and it has proven to be a disaster for the industry with no gains in public health. Vermont is below the national average for dosing and packaging limitations, and this is a consumer price issue and environmental concern.

• Lift the ban on cannabis that tests over 30% THC, and solid concentrates that test over 60% THC.

• Increase the dosage limit for cannabis products to up to 20 mg per serving, and the total package limit up to 500 mg.

Standardizing testing procedures across state-licensed labs using state-mandated operating procedures will begin foundational improvements to testing.

• Task the upcoming Cannabis Control Board State Laboratory to explore the benefits of defining state SOP lab standards for licensed labs and to report that to the Senate Committee on Agriculture.

• Task the Cannabis Control Board with establishing testing criteria and sample testing protocols for seed and immature plant production.

Vermont has some of the most onerous advertising restrictions in the country for an adult-use cannabis market. Small businesses are the lifeblood of Vermont, and local small farmers, producers, and retailers need to be able to reasonably market themselves and reasonably communicate their products directly to the general public.

• Lift the ban on all advertising, including window displays, items, text, or objects inside and outside of cannabis establishments and model cannabis advertising laws similar to the alcohol advertising laws (link).

• Strike opt-in from law and replace it with out-out.

• Redefine cultivation canopy to flowering plants only.

• Increase the adult home grow allowance to twelve (12) mature plants.

• Appropriate funding for 2 full time staff positions in the Licensing Department under the Cannabis Control Board.