Post by Logan on Apr 9, 2016 17:34:13 GMT -6
Montpelier — Efforts to legalize marijuana in Vermont this year may have gone up in smoke Friday, as a House committee passed a measure that calls for more study after it stripped out Senate-passed provisions that would tax and license pot growers and retailers.
But the chief sponsor of a Senate bill to allow adults to possess up to an ounce of pot said the effort had not been nipped in the bud. “We have a long way to go and a short time to get there” before lawmakers adjourn for the year in about a month, said Sen. Richard Sears, D-Bennington. “But I always hold out hope.”
Opponents of legal marijuana still saw the House Judiciary Committee’s version of the bill as planting a seed likely to grow into legalization in the near future. It calls for the creation of a marijuana advisory commission that would “propose a comprehensive regulatory structure that establishes controlled access to marijuana.”
“What we’re still concerned about is the commission and its real mission that basically lends itself to saying, ‘Figure out how to legalize,’ ” said Stephanie Winters, executive director of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Vermont chapter, which opposes legalization.
Read more: www.vnews.com/News/Local-Regional/Vermont-House-throws-cold-water-on-push-to-legalize-pot-in-Vermont-1421287
But the chief sponsor of a Senate bill to allow adults to possess up to an ounce of pot said the effort had not been nipped in the bud. “We have a long way to go and a short time to get there” before lawmakers adjourn for the year in about a month, said Sen. Richard Sears, D-Bennington. “But I always hold out hope.”
Opponents of legal marijuana still saw the House Judiciary Committee’s version of the bill as planting a seed likely to grow into legalization in the near future. It calls for the creation of a marijuana advisory commission that would “propose a comprehensive regulatory structure that establishes controlled access to marijuana.”
“What we’re still concerned about is the commission and its real mission that basically lends itself to saying, ‘Figure out how to legalize,’ ” said Stephanie Winters, executive director of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Vermont chapter, which opposes legalization.
Read more: www.vnews.com/News/Local-Regional/Vermont-House-throws-cold-water-on-push-to-legalize-pot-in-Vermont-1421287