[P]roponents of marijuana legalization struck out three times on Tuesday. The House overwhelmingly defeated a proposal from the Senate that would have legalized retail marijuana sales in Vermont by 2018.
The House then rejected a proposal to hold a statewide, non-binding referendum on marijuana legalization during the August primary. In a final blow, lawmakers struck down a potential compromise that would have decriminalized homegrown pot.
The triple defeat effectively kills pot legalization efforts this session, which comes to a close on Saturday. One related bill slightly loosens rules on medical marijuana.
The House has effectively ruled out Vermont becoming the first Legislature in New England to legalize marijuana. Connecticut and Rhode Island legislatures are considering legalization measures this year, and Massachusetts and Maine will have voter referendums.
Tuesday’s votes also mark a defeat for Gov. Peter Shumlin, who proposed in his State of the State address to legalize marijuana and worked with allies in the Senate to pass a bill that would have allowed the state to issue licenses to marijuana cultivators and retailers. It would have prohibited Vermonters from growing their own pot.
“The War on Drugs policy of marijuana prohibition has failed,” Shumlin said. “I want to thank those House members who recognize that and worked to move this issue forward. It is incredibly disappointing, however, that a majority of the House has shown a remarkable disregard for the sentiment of most Vermonters who understand that we must pursue a smarter policy when it comes to marijuana in this state.”
Local uniformed police officers from around the state who opposed legalization have been a presence in the Statehouse for the past few days. Lobbyists for and against the measure have also prowled the halls, leaning on lawmakers to vote for and against.
In the end, House Speaker Shap Smith was right. He has said all along that he didn’t have the votes on the floor for marijuana. He went so far as to suggest on Monday that proponents push for a referendum instead.
But even a statewide, nonbinding referendum — offered by Republican House Minority Leader Don Turner — didn’t have gas in the House.
“So much for Vermont’s reputation as a liberal state,” said Rep. Tony Klein, D-East Montpelier.
How the votes went down on the floor
The House voted Tuesday 121-28 in a roll call vote to defeat S.241, which would have created a legal pot market for recreational consumers.
The Senate bill passed Feb. 25. After the House watered it down, the Senate used a procedural move Wednesday to force the House to vote on the bill.
The Senate’s marijuana bill would have allowed the Department of Public Safety to issue 27 licenses to marijuana cultivators, 15 retail licenses, and five laboratory licenses in 2018. The number of licenses would have doubled in 2019.
After defeating the Senate’s legalization bill, the House defeated a referendum that would have posed the question “Should Vermont legalize marijuana for recreational use?” The referendum would have taken place during the August primary. The measure failed 97-51, largely along party lines.
The House then defeated a final compromise which would have allowed Vermonters to cultivate two plants at home. That measure went down 77-70, with Progressives in favor, Republicans opposed, and Democrats split.
Rep. Charles Conquest, D-Wells River, the lead sponsor on the decriminalization amendment, said Vermont needs to “rationalize our existing decriminalization statute” before moving from a culture of marijuana prohibition to marijuana legalization.
The amendment would have decreased the financial penalty for marijuana possession and added marijuana possession to current driving laws that prohibit open containers and alcohol consumption in motor vehicles.
Other provisions would have created an education program for youth marijuana use and directed the Agency of Transportation and Department of Public Safety to seek federal funding to train police officers on how to address impaired driving.
House Majority Leader Sarah Copeland-Hanzas, D-Bradford, was one of several co-sponsors. She called the legislation “a modest way to move forward” without knowing if Vermonters are ready for legalization, or how they would like it implemented.
“This is an interim step for the person suffering from PTSD who uses marijuana to control their anxiety the ability to do that without having to engage in a criminal activity that might frankly exacerbate their anxiety,” Copeland-Hanzas said in an interview.
Debate from the floor
The House spent more than five hours on the floor debating marijuana legislation. The chamber delayed a vote previously scheduled for Monday night, then delayed the vote from 9:30 a.m. until lunchtime, and took many breaks before voting on the legislation.
One of the breaks happened when House Judiciary Committee, which watered down the Senate’s version of S.241 back in April, spent the morning debating the Conquest proposal. The legislation failed in a 6-5 vote.
Rep. Chris Pearson, P-Burlington, said: “What we are doing today is not working. It is very simply not working. Prohibition failed. It failed our kids who repeatedly tell us it’s easier to gain access to cannabis than it is to alcohol.
“It fails because we have a lot of marijuana in Vermont and virtually all of that comes through the hands of drug dealers. It fails because we have $150 million in economic activity each year through cannabis,” Pearson said.
Rep. John Bartholomew, D-Hartland, said there would be more restrictions on marijuana use if lawmakers legalize it. He said people drank more often during alcohol prohibition in the 1920s and faced restrictions when prohibition ended.
“Once you allow something, there is an entire code of law closing outlets, age limits, percentage of alcohol you drink, no Sunday sales in many states,” he said. “I think we need to learn the lessons of history, not ignore them.”
Rep. Cynthia Browning, D-Arlington, said decriminalizing two homegrown plants is “de facto legalization” that would decriminalize possession of 16 times more marijuana than is currently decriminalized.
“Expanding decriminalization in this way is going to generate more marijuana and it’s going to find its way out into our communities, whether it’s through gift, sale, or other acts of sharing,” Browning said.
Rep. Maxine Grad, D-Moretown, the chair of the House Judiciary Committee, voted against the Senate’s S.241 language because she said it would have promoted large commercial sellers while prohibiting average people from growing their own marijuana.
The bill was not fully vetted, according to Rep. Doug Gage, R-Rutland City, and it was the result of “shoddy work in a direction that is very politically charged.”
“We have not entered this process very well at all,” Gage said. “It was literally two weeks ago that our Judiciary Committee (voted on) anything that would happen with marijuana.”
Rep. Job Tate, R-Mendon, told lawmakers the homegrown provision could bring new plants to Vermont, and sought to send the bill to the Agriculture Committee. When his proposal failed, Tate called the move a “Hail Mary Jane.”
Turner, the minority leader, said he opposed marijuana decriminalization three years ago but has accepted that it is the law of the land, and if his constituents supported legalization in a referendum, he would have helped pass a bill.
“I stand in front of my caucus every single time and I say, you represent your constituents,” Turner said. “You represent what they want. That’s why we’re standing here. Well I’m putting my money where my mouth is.”
(Correction: A previous version of this article misstated the number of dispensaries to be licensed in 2018. The correct number is 27.)
