This week, Governor Phil Scott allowed S. 54 to pass into law without his signature, despite acknowledging that there is still work to do to make this policy equitable. Thank you to all who supported us in engaging with this taboo and politically divisive issue and for supporting economic equity, agricultural access, repairing past harms done, and ending the criminalization of a plant explicitly founded in racism.

We look forward to continuing our advocacy for justice and equality in the emerging cannabis market and to doing so in conjunction with the over 100 farms, organizations, and businesses who have recently expressed their desire to do the same by signing on in support of our work and all other advocates who care to join. We hope that we can count on the Governor's Office and Legislature to support all of us in this work.

Join us as 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 Vermont to develop legislation creating a tax and regulate system in our state which sets a new standard for equity, reparations, inclusivity and representation.

For multiple years, Rural Vermont and others have advocated for racial justice, criminal justice reforms, scale appropriate regulation, and agricultural and economic equity in proposed Cannabis Taxation and Regulation legislation at the Vermont Legislature.  We found our voices, and those of the communities we represent and are in solidarity with, rarely heard, largely ignored, and procedurally marginalized.  The result of this is a bill which, among many things: 

• does NOT adequately address the history and violence of systemic racism in cannabis prohibition or include BIPOC and other disproportionately impacted communities in the new market, and decision making processes in how the revenues from this market are spent; 

• which does NOT include adequate criminal justice reforms and continues the criminalization of cannabis; 

• which furthers industry consolidation by entrenching the monopoly status and licensing privileges of existing cannabis dispensaries in the State, most of which are owned by wealthy multi-state operators such as Curaleaf Holdings, LLC and iAnthus Capital Holdings, LLC;

• which pushes out small farmers and businesses by establishing multiple barriers to equitable market access, proposing an uncertain and political licensing process, and by implementing discriminatory zoning which states that cannabis and its cultivation will not be considered an agricultural product or crop (this legislation was never addressed in the House or Senate Agriculture Committees). 

S.54 passed both the House and Senate earlier in the 2019-2020 biennium and is now in the hands of a conference committee made up of three members of each chamber. The task of the conference committee, if and when it meets, will be to reconcile the two versions of the bill passed by the House and Senate.  There is significant pressure from a minority of well-funded organizations and companies to pass this bill, in particular given the budgetary challenges in the face of the global pandemic.  

It is critical that we not allow this crisis to serve as justification for a fundamentally inequitable bill which will further amplify existing inequities.  We ask the legislature to come together with us 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. 

Contact your representatives and urge them to say "NO!" to S.54!

You can find more details about us and our coalition members' opposition here:
Rural Vermont 
Justice For All 
Vermont Growers Association 
NOFA VT
Trace 

Read our joint press release here.
And, watch our Just & Inclusive Cannabis Policy Forum here: