Grad’s proposal will serve as a starting point for the 11-member committee as it nears decision time on whether to change the state’s marijuana laws. The panel appears unwilling to embrace a Senate-passed bill that would legalize sale and possession of marijuana starting in 2018.
Whether a majority of the House committee will find Grad’s plan too liberal, too conservative or just right remains unclear. The committee broke for the day immediately after Grad presented her bill.
“I know it will not go as far as some people will go, but it goes further than other people would like to go,” Grad told her committee.
Earlier Wednesday, several members of the committee made clear they want to pass no marijuana legislation, Grad said. Others, including her, want to respond to some of the concerns they have heard about drugged driving, a lack of drug prevention programs and the need to prepare for eventual legalization, she said.
Grad’s bill includes no triggers for legalizing sale and possession if neighboring states do, as she’d indicated was a possibility on Tuesday. Instead, she calls for establishing a committee to recommend how the state should prepare for legalization.
Grad’s bill calls for spending $350,000 on drug prevention programs. Without a plan to legalize and tax marijuana, however, it’s unclear where that money would come from.
It also establishes a new, lower 0.05 blood alcohol level for driving under the influence when combined with the presence of marijuana in the system.
Grad’s bill answers complaints that marijuana users shouldn’t have to rely on the black market. But those growing or using marijuana could still be subject to a civil fine under the bill.
For legalization advocates, the plan appears to fall far short of their goals, though they’ve long known legalization faced tough odds in the House. Grad appeared to craft her proposal without consulting either legalization lobbyists or Gov. Peter Shumlin’s administration, both of which worked closely with the Senate on that chamber’s bill.
Grad’s committee is expected to debate the proposal Thursday. She said she hopes the panel will vote on something by the end of the week.
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I like this better as a step forward. The other plan makes growing and retail a corporate game, and is overly restrictive vis-a-vis product types & usage. And it would raise the price vs. the black market, and therefore not solve the black market issue. I can get behind letting everyone grow & possess pot.
This is eerily like Civil Unions vs. marriage for all. It’s a needless interim step, and overly restrictive. It’s too bad Vermont politicians would rather follow than lead on this issue.
After the overwhelming show of support for legalization at the recent public hearing….Well..let’s just say Legislators who do not listen to their constituents do not remain in office very long. Representatives are elected to represent the will of the citizens who elect them, not to push their own, misguided, personal agendas. We will remember what happens in the House on Election Day.
“But those growing or using marijuana could still be subject to a civil fine under the bill.” How can they impose a civil penalty on personal use? What are the damages?
I wish they would put the issue to a vote in November.
It’s time to name names, which the article does not do. Who exactly is against this?
House Committee members:
Rep. Maxine Grad, Chair
Rep. Willem Jewett, Vice Chair
Rep. Thomas Burditt, Ranking Member
Rep. Charles Conquest
Rep. William Frank
Rep. Martin LaLonde
Rep. Marcia Martel
Rep. Betty A. Nuovo
Rep. Barbara Rachelson
Rep. Vicki Strong, Clerk
Rep. Gary Viens
CALL EVERYONE AND COMPLAIN!
So much sturm and drang. Just decriminalize it period and let the chips fall where they may. It will be fine. Really. How much money is being wasted in this process of deciding whether or not a plant should be legal or not? It’s just foolishness.
$350,000 to drug prevention even though they’re not actually legalizing anything? So the House is literally proposing to pile heaps of money into the bonfire that is the war on drugs? Has the House seriously transformed from tax and spend (which I abhor that term) to simply just spend? We have a massive budget crisis, and somehow our priorities are not actually fixing our revenue issue, but instead increasing the budget at the detriment of other useful programs? I’ve seriously lost faith in our State’s government.
Worst. Idea. Ever. They somehow took an already shitty law, and made one that is way, way worse! I guess they are having a contest to see who can Fuck this up worse… Lol!