Under new commercial cannabis law, town voters must grant permission for retail sales

Re-published from Sun Community News, Middlebury

October 16, 2020 – At a Middlebury Selectboard meeting held on Oct. 13, board members knew local resident David Silberman wasn’t blowing smoke when he noted that the Vermont Act 64 law, pertaining to the regulation of marijuana in Vermont, was recently signed into law.

Silberman said that a section of the act requires voter approval, by means of Australian ballot at an annual or special town meeting, to authorize cannabis retailers to operate within a municipality, and he requested that the Selectboard consider adding that question to the 2021 Town Meeting warning.

Gov. Phil Scott (R) announced earlier this month that the “tax-and-regulate” cannabis bill is now law without his signature; without Scott’s signature, legal marijuana sales will begin in Vermont in just over a year. Future cannabis products will see a hefty 20 percent state tax added to the price.

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