Vermont Coalition Announces Opposition to Bill S.54
A vibrant coalition of Vermont nonprofits and businesses representing the diverse communities across the state - from the local BIPOC, agriculture, and environmental communities, law, and criminal justice, to the hemp and cannabis communities - come together in oppose S.54 and forge an inclusive and just cannabis platform for Vermont.
We, the undersigned, a vibrant coalition of local nonprofits and businesses representing the diverse communities across Vermont - from the local BIPOC, agriculture and environmental communities, law and criminal justice, to the hemp and cannabis communities - come together in opposition to say, “no taxation and regulation without reparations”. We come together to say “no” to S.54 in order to ensure that the people most hurt by this history of policy and policing are the ones who will most greatly benefit from the legalization of cannabis in Vermont, and who will determine what that means. We come together to begin an inclusive stakeholder process - uniting racial justice and agricultural and economic equity - to create a just and equitable platform for the legalization of cannabis in Vermont.
“This bill fails to adequately address the magnitude of the damage or offer any real equitable opportunity for black folks to thrive in this industry”
The devastation inflicted by the war on drugs, and the criminalization of cannabis, has disproportionately focused on communities of color, including here in Vermont. Its impacts have shattered the lives of individuals, families, and communities for generations and across generations. These impacts are long-lasting, complex, and both explicit and implicit including mental and physical health, socio-economic opportunity and positionality, incarceration, police and criminal justice system violence, housing, education, and more. The war on drugs is also to be acknowledged as only one of many tools of systemic racism employed amidst the broader history and impacts of institutional racism and xenophobia which has resulted in the dramatic disparities of business ownership, land access and ownership, access to capital, and more which are present in our communities.
The decriminalization of cannabis, and the establishment of legal markets in various states, has thus far resulted in few outcomes which begin to address and redress this history - rather resulting in the furthering of systemic white supremacy, racism, and economic inequity in the cannabis industry. The legal cannabis market is estimated to become a $40 billion industry by the end of 2020, yet black-owned cannabis businesses only represent 4.3% of total market share. S.54 is a continuation of that policy which we find unacceptable for Vermont.
We call on Vermont’s legislature to reject S.54 and commit to working with our organizations, communities of color, and small farms and businesses across VT to develop legislation creating a tax and regulate system in VT which sets a new standard for equity, reparations, inclusivity, and representation.
Coalition Partner Statements
Below are full statements from each coalition member, along with links to their websites for more details about their positions. If you’re an organization or businesses that would like to join the coalition in opposition to S.54 and toward a more inclusive and just legal cannabis market, or to learn more, please send us a email.
Justice For All
“S.54 fails to adequately address racial equity in taxation and regulation of cannabis," says Mark Hughes of Justice for All. "This comes as no surprise in that there was absolutely no analysis on the historical impact that “marijuana” has had on black communities in any of the three reports provided by the Commission to inform the legislature's work. The language that was added as a result of our testimony fails to adequately address the magnitude of the damage or offer any real equitable opportunity for black folks to thrive in this industry. Taxation and regulation of cannabis must be directly linked to addressing the harm caused by the "War on Drugs" and ensuring those impacted have opportunities to thrive”
NOFA-VT
"As an organization whose mission calls us to work toward a socially just food and agricultural system, we cannot support legislation like S.54 that does not focus first and foremost on redressing the harm done by cannabis prohibition, the war on drugs, and mass incarceration before allowing the powerful to profit," says NOFA-VT Policy Director Maddie Kempner.
"Rather than creating an equitable, inclusive, high quality, ecologically sound cannabis market, S.54 builds cannabis policy around assumptions based on the lopsided and inequitable markets created by other states. As we press on into this new territory, we have the opportunity to demonstrate to the nation how cannabis policy can not only bring in revenue, but do so in a way that repairs past harms, prioritizes equitable market access, supports existing farms and Vermont-owned businesses, and bolsters our rural economies and communities."
Rural Vermont
"It is critical that we not allow this global medical and economic crisis to serve as justification for supporting a fundamentally inadequate and inequitable bill which will further amplify existing racial, economic, and social inequities in Vermont,: says Rural Vermont Policy Director Graham Unangst-Rufenacht. "We have the opportunity now to reject S.54 and to commit to engaging with a diversity of stakeholders to create a legal cannabis market in Vermont which is founded in racial justice, and agricultural and economic equity and opportunity. We are being asked to support S.54 based on the potential revenue this new market could bring to Vermont. We must in turn ask: 'who will have access to, and agency and privileges within, this market? Who will share in and benefit from the revenues? Who were the stakeholders in determining this?'"
Trace
"We need to listen to our community and block S.54 until the legislature is able to present a bill that addresses the systemic racism inherent in the history of cannabis in America. The market also needs to be accessible to folks in our community who might not have unlimited sums of money to spend on consultants and equipment, but can still deliver high quality, safe & cost competitive cannabis products."
Vermont Growers Association
"Bill S.54 fails to earn the support of Vermont’s cannabis community," says VGA's Geoffrey Pizzutillo. "As the formal tax and regulate cannabis organization in Vermont, our members are the local families and small businesses that will compose the state's legal marketplace and this legislation leaves them out, includes no viable pathway for market access, fails to create a value chain to market, and will ultimately prevent the successful transition of Vermonters from the legacy market into the legal one. Vermont is an agrarian state and cannabis is a plant, it must be permitted to be grown and sold by locals as a means to support their livelihood, especially in the wake of the global health crisis. If allowed to become law, S.54 will make life harder for everyday Vermonters by artificially limiting economic development opportunities by favoring established players and creating unreasonable barriers to market entry for new participants. This will prevent the formation of a just and equitable cannabis cottage industry - similar to our beer, maple syrup, cheese industries - and solvable racial, economic, and social inequities will remain."
Read more about VGA’s position →