The Vermont House rejected a marijuana legalization proposal on Tuesday, May 3 turning down the hopes of legalization advocates for major drug reform after promising votes in the State senate earlier this year.
According to Boston, the Vermont House voted 121-28 on Tuesday to reject marijuana legalization bill which was passed by the state Senate at the urging of Governor Peter Shumlin in February. The bill would have legalized, regulated, and tax marijuana for those 21 and older.
However, it was more restrained than legalization ballot initiatives in many ways such that, it wouldn't have legalized edibles, wouldn't have allowed for home cultivation, and legal sales wouldn't go into effect until 2018.
Representative Chip Conquest, a Wells River Democrat, offered an agreement package that the House has debated. Conquest stated, "They could grow for themselves. It's not legal, but a civil penalty. It doesn't put them in the world of committing a crime and avoids the collateral consequences that go with that. We're not in the business of saying a person who grows a plant should have criminal record", The Hemp Street Journal cited.
On the other hand Don Turner of Milton, the Vermont House Minority leader, who opposes the legalization introduced an amendment that would put a non-binding referendum before voters to gauge their opinion on marijuana legalization. The said amendment was also voted on Tuesday afternoon, Seven Days reports.
Tuesday's vote came with only a few days remaining in the legislative session, meaning there won't be time for the House and Senate to hammer out their differences. Because of the majority's decision, marijuana reform advocates including Governor Peter Shumlin were not happy.
If the legalization proposal is passed, Vermont would have been the 1st state to legalize marijuana through the legislature, rather than by referendum. It would also have brought legalization closer to New England, the region considered the next frontier for major marijuana policy reform.
