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Vermont Marijuana Decriminalization Bills Filed

Submitted by Phillip Smith on (Issue #771)

Bills that would decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana have been introduced in both houses of the Vermont legislature. A Senate bill, Senate Bill 48, was introduced late last month, and its House counterpart, House Bill 200, was introduced Tuesday.

The bills are not identical. The Senate bill would decriminalize the possession of up to an ounce of pot by those 21 and over, while the more far-reaching House bill would decriminalize the possession of up to two ounces and the cultivation of to two mature and seven immature marijuana plants. Under both bills, people under 21 who are caught with pot would be treated like minors caught possessing alcohol.

The bills have tri-partisan support (Democrats, Republicans, and Progressives), with 39 cosponsors in the House and eight in the Senate. Gov. Peter Shumlin (D) has also repeatedly indicated strong support for a decriminalization bill.

In previous years, House Speaker Shap Smith has blocked decriminalization bills from moving to the House floor, but last month, he said he wouldn't block a bill if it made it out of the Judiciary Committee.

Fourteen states have decriminalized marijuana possession
, including Colorado, which along with Washington, legalized possession in the November elections. Other states in the Northeast that have decriminalized are Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, and New York.

Permission to Reprint: This content is licensed under a modified Creative Commons Attribution license. Content of a purely educational nature in Drug War Chronicle appear courtesy of DRCNet Foundation, unless otherwise noted.

Comments

Uncle Bob (not verified)

I can have my fantasies about the congressional bill passing and getting signed into law.. but on the reality side of things, it's nice to see this State-by-state domino effect is off to a nice start.. y'know.. just as a backup plan :D

Fri, 02/08/2013 - 1:57am Permalink
tempname_68839 (not verified)

when I went thru chemo, in another state, the only "relief" I had for the nausea/vomiting, due to allergies, was "mary jane!"  My children had to instruct me as to how to use it, but IT did prevent the adversities I was hoping to aovid................Please allow those of us who might benefit, benefit!  Dr. C J Weingart, N. Troy, V

 

 

Sat, 02/09/2013 - 5:52pm Permalink

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