Officials in Clarendon have moved to prevent both recreational and medical marijuana dispensaries from opening in town, anticipating that Vermont legislators will soon establish a legal market for the drug.
Last week, Clarendon’s selectboard unanimously passed an ordinance that would ban dispensaries.
While Vermont legalized limited possession and cultivation of cannabis in 2018 and medical marijuana use has been permitted since 2004, the state has not legalized retail cannabis sales.
Legislation that would establish a taxed and regulated market for marijuana passed the Senate this year, but stalled in the House. However, Democratic House leaders say that passing it will be a priority in 2020.
Mike Klopchin, the chair of Clarendon’s selectboard, said Wednesday that as lawmakers have mulled legalizing a cannabis market, residents have come to town officials with concerns and urged a ban on local dispensaries.
Klopchin said that he agrees and is worried that allowing dispensaries to set up in town will boost youth usage.
“I’m very concerned that in some way shape or form, young kids are going to get ahold of some of this,” he said. “I’m not saying that that isn’t happening already, but I don’t necessarily think it’s a great idea to open the door even wider.”
Clarendon is not the only town that has moved to prevent dispensaries from moving in.
Last year, Newport also preemptively banned all dispensaries and placed a $500 penalty on selling marijuana in the city.
In recent weeks, Killington officials have been mulling a ban on medical marijuana dispensaries.
Gwynn Zakov, a policy advocate at the League of Cities and Towns, an association that represents Vermont’s municipalities, said she hasn’t heard of any other communities that have proposed bans.
She said that most municipalities are waiting for Legislature to act on marijuana legislation before they decide whether to let dispensaries set up shop.
Towns have the right to ban dispensaries, Zakov said, but it’s unclear whether their bans will hold up under future legislation.
“There are some communities that feel like they might have a consensus about how their community as a whole feels about this subject matter. That’s certainly their prerogative to do that,” Zakov said of implementing dispensary bans. “Whether it has any legal force is a totally different question.”
She said that the bans wouldn’t have any force unless the legislation legalizing marijuana explicitly gave towns the authority to bar pot shops.
The proposals that lawmakers have considered give towns the flexibility to decide whether to welcome dispensaries.
The bill that passed the Senate in March, included an “opt-out” provision, allowing towns to decide to prevent commercial marijuana shops from opening up.
The House bill included an “opt-in” provision — meaning that before any dispensaries move in, municipalities have to decide to welcome them in the first place.
Gov. Phil Scott has said he could support legislation to tax and regulate cannabis if it included certain provisions, including an “opt-in” requirement for municipalities.
The tax and regulate legislation stalled in the House in May, after Democratic leaders in the House said they needed more time to work on the policy.
At the time, House Majority Leader Jill Krowinski, D-Burlington, said that if lawmakers didn’t move the legislation forward, they would do so in early 2020.
