Will 2020 be the year legal cannabis sales break through in Vermont? As the Magic Eight-Ball might say, “Signs point to yes.” While the Green Mountain State passed a bill that decriminalized and allowed cannabis to be cultivated at home in 2018, the state held back on commercial sales due to, among other concerns, a lack of testing for impaired driving. However, officials in the Vermont statehouse on both sides of the aisle have come around to allowing for sales in Vermont with the calendar turned to 2020.

Will 2020 be the year for cannabis sales in Vermont?

Vermont officials and politicians began more serious consideration of a cannabis sales bill early last spring, a bill that MMLG’s blogger at the time described as “a plan other small states could emulate.”  That proposed plan, which was passed by the State Senate but passed up by the House, would put emphasis on:

• Licensing priority to Vermont businesses, including existing medical marijuana dispensaries and businesses that are environmentally sustainable and/or owned by minorities or women.
• Preference to small cultivators during the initial licensing round in an effort to support small, local farmers.
• A limit of one license of any type, at one location, for each applicant.
• A retail sales tax of 10%. Municipalities that allow retail stores could establish a separate 1% sales tax.

Nearly a full year later and Vermont’s House is looking to pass. So why the change of heart between last year and now? It’s simple, money. Vermont officials are realizing that tax revenues that could be lining the state’s coffers are trickling into neighboring states that allow for cannabis sales. Beyond that, it comes down to a few other significant factors. Public safety and regulation, with no legal adult-use sales (ergo no regulations or testing) consumers risk consuming tainted goods bought from disreputable sourcing. But, again, this is trustworthy Vermonters we’re talking about, it’s mostly the tax revenue.

And, since we’re talking about politicians after all, the other factor working in favor of licensed and legal cannabis sales inVermont comes down to pressure that incumbent Governor Phil Scott will face a challenge for reelection from 420-friendly Lieutenant Governor David Zuckerman.