by Guy Page
On this week’s episode of the Ericka Redic Show, host/analyst Ericka Redic tells which towns will and won’t have the Retail Marijuana question on their March Town Meeting ballots. (Clarification: Londonderry will vote on the question this year but has not decided when to hold the vote.)
The commercial cannabis law passed last year gives Vermont towns the right to ask voters whether or not they want to “opt in” to the retail market. If voters say yes, retail marijuana stores may apply for permits. If voters say no, retail operations are off the table.
However, bills by retail marijuana supporters like Sen. Joe Benning (R-Caledonia) would require towns to hold a vote by March 2022, or forever hold their peace as afterwards, permit applications would go directly to the state Cannabis Control Board. In response, a bill by retail cannabis opponent Art Peterson (R-Clarendon) would remove any time constraints on the municipal “opt-in” vote.
Redic also:
- interviews Rep. Peterson on his bill to extend local control beyond the limits imposed by last year’s retail cannabis law AND his proposed bill to require tobacco-like product warnings on all marijuana packaging;
- Quotes Sen. Benning on his bill to limit local control;
- Quotes Dr. Catherine Antley, an opponent of legal marijuana, on the pervasive influence of Big Marijuana marketing money;
- and offers some surprising and thought-provocative opinions of her own on retail cannabis. All comments welcome! As an astute observer of the Vermont media recently remarked, “we [readers] are the news. Our comments are the news.”
This is the fourth episode of the weekly Ericka Redic Show, a production of Vermont Daily and Redic’s own Generally Irritable.