The Cannabis Control Board is recommending once again that Vermont lift the limit on concentration of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, one of the psychoactive ingredients in cannabis, in solid concentrates, according to board chair James Pepper.
In its draft report, the three-member board — established in 2020 to oversee the implementation and regulation of legal cannabis — said imposing a limit on THC would require the introduction of potentially harmful fillers. The final report is expected to go to the Legislature Dec. 31.
“There is no knowing for certain what manufacturers would use for filler if forced to dilute their products to meet potency limits,” the report said, adding that fillers can be fats, oils, or cannabis-derived products such as terpenes or other cannabinoids.
Pepper testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee last May that leaving a THC cap on legal cannabis gives the illicit market a monopoly on high-THC concentrates, also known as dabs, shatter, wax and bubble hash, which are designed to be heated and inhaled.
The limit was the subject of heated controversy at the end of the last legislative session when the House, in a last-minute change in a bill, reimposed the limit after an abrupt reversal of position by the Vermont Department of Health. The House reimposed a cap of 60% THC in solid cannabis concentrates sold at retail establishments beginning last October after the cap had been lifted in the Senate version of the legislation.
The reimposition of the cap, proposed by Rep. John Gannon, D-Wilmington, was approved by voice vote in the House. Senators agreed to move the bill to a conference committee, but with only a week left in the legislative session, the House amendment prevailed.
Gannon did not run for reelection, nor did other House supporters of the THC limit, said Geoffrey Pizzutillo, executive director of the Vermont Growers Association, which supports elimination of the cap.
“We came pretty close this past year,” Pizzutillo said. “It looks like we’re actually going to get it done this year.”
Sen. Richard Sears, D-Bennington, chair of the Judiciary Committee in the last session, anticipates that the committee will take up the issue again this coming legislative session. Sears said he has drafted legislation to lift the cap.
“We’re trying to compete with other states and other states don’t have that limit,” Sears said.
Besides Vermont, of the 17 states that have legalized adult-use recreational cannabis, only Connecticut imposes a limit on THC content in solid concentrates, according to the draft report from the board.
“We’re competing with an illegal market and one of our goals in legalizing and having regulated sales was to reduce the reliance on the illegal market,” Sears said. “Obviously, the illegal market has the advantage when they can sell the higher THC.”
The draft report from the Cannabis Control Board estimates the illicit market in solid concentrates in Vermont is worth anywhere from $12.7 million to $25.4 million a year.
Correction: An earlier version of this story misspelled Geoffrey Pizzutillo’s surname.