Voters in six Northeast Kingdom towns have approved marijuana shops in their communities. Two other municipalities narrowly said no.
The six towns represent nearly a third of the communities statewide that voted Tuesday to opt in on allowing retail marijuana sales. Under Act 164, municipal approval is a prerequisite for local pot sales.
Advocates believe marijuana sales could be the economic tonic that Northeast Kingdom communities need.
Barton passed the measure 112-81, Brownington said yes by a vote of 68-26 and the Peacham vote was 168-145 in favor, according to officials from each town.
Burke, Danville and Sutton all said yes, too, according to the Caledonian Record.
The two largest municipalities voting that day — Lyndon and Newport — rejected local marijuana stores. The margin in Newport was just 20 votes, according to City Clerk Jim Johnson. St. Johnsbury will vote April 6 on whether to allow retail marijuana stores.
David Templeman, a sheep farmer in Brownington who lobbied for the ballot items was surprised that Lyndon and Newport rejected the proposals, but he believes smaller towns may benefit.
“This is an opportunity for these small townships that really don’t have much of an industry at all, other than farming and tourism,” said Templeman, who pitched the retail weed ballot item to Newport officials with his partner, Liz Vickers, last year. “This is an opportunity for them to bring a substantial amount of money to the townships.”
The application for retail marijuana licenses will be accepted for 30 days, starting Sept. 1, 2022, according to the statute, which Gov. Phil Scott let become law without his signature last October.
Advocates of retail weed measures believe entrepreneurs will look first to communities that have already opted in.
Barton resident Karen Devereux, a teacher in Brownington who co-runs Northeast Kingdom Hemp, said Wednesday the results in Newport and Lyndon could bode well for small towns like hers.
“They’re gonna be able to draw from a bit of a wider pool of customers,” Devereux said. “With Barton being right in the middle there, and with the tourism and the lakes, it could really bring some business into Barton.”
If people stop in town to patronize weed stores, they might also grab a bite to eat or fill up on gas, she said.
Devereux doesn’t know if she and her husband, Cam, will try to jump into the marijuana market.
The couple collected enough signatures in Barton to get the cannabis question on the town meeting agenda because “we wanted to have that option in our own town if possible,” she said.
Act 164 allows municipalities to establish their own cannabis control commissions.
Templeman said his community of Brownington could be well positioned as the northernmost town to approve retail operations.
“What I would really like to see for the community (is) that the money stay here, that the money recirculate within the community, that this not be another Walmart,” he said.
