The Senate Judiciary Committee has approved a slightly less lenient version of the marijuana decriminalization bill that passed in the House. It’s now floor-bound in the Senate, where it will await debate along with a number of bills in the queue.
The revised version of H.200 won the endorsement of committee chair, Sen. Richard Sears, D-Bennington, who has long been reticent to lessen the penalties for possession.
“It took me a long time to get here. My hope is this will work. And will be clear to people that we have not legalized the possession of small amounts of marijuana,” Sears told his committee, after casting his vote in the affirmative today.
H.200 makes it a civil penalty rather than a criminal offense to possess an ounce or less of marijuana. People would be subject to the equivalent of a traffic ticket and a fine, though first-time offenders and people under 21 could participate in diversion instead.
The Judiciary Committee tightened the leash on young people in several places — most notably, for people under 21, possession would be decriminalized only for the first two offenses. The House version decriminalized one ounce for an infinite number of offenses.
Sears said the Legislature has to draw the line somewhere for young people who repeatedly make the same “mistake.”
“When we started this, I thought we were talking about someone who made a mistake. I didn’t know we were talking about people who make continuous mistakes,” Sears said.
The committee also wanted to keep the penalties for marijuana possession on par with those for alcohol. The House version upheld the current law, which makes the third offense for alcohol possession among people under 21 subject to a criminal penalty. Some members favored the reverse approach — decriminalizing both substances after the second offense — but Sears held his ground, and the more austere approach won out.
Offenses only accumulate if the person fails to complete diversion. “To get to the criminal sanction, you have to work at it,” Sears said, in explanation of the committee’s decision.
The committee created a graded scale for the civil penalties, increasing the fine for subsequent offenses, whereas the House kept a flat rate of $300. The Senate penalty sets a $200 maximum for the first offense, $300 for the second, and $500 for third and subsequent offenses.
The Senate version also makes it a delinquent act for people under 16 to possess an ounce of marijuana. They, too, would be given the chance to participate in diversion.
The Judiciary Committee also nixed an amendment to the bill that makes it a misdemeanor for someone over 21 to possess any amount of marijuana in a school building, on school property within 100 feet of a school building, or on a school bus that’s transporting minors.
Sears took a stab at reducing the decriminalized amount from one ounce to half an ounce, but the committee voted against the move. It made several other minor changes, including a reduction of the decriminalized amount of hashish, which has a higher THC concentration, from one ounce to five grams.
The Marijuana Policy Project, which spent $10,000 lobbying on the bill during the past three months, released the following statement in support of the committee’s decision.
“Vermont is another step closer to a more sensible marijuana policy, and the change cannot come soon enough… I hope the Senate will join their colleagues in the House, the state’s top law enforcement officials, and the people of Vermont in supporting this commonsense legislation.”
Editor’s note: This story was updated at 5:00 p.m. on May 1, 2013.