A panel in the final stages of crafting recommendations for how Vermont could tax and regulate a legal market for marijuana will be hitting the road beginning next week.
The Governor’s Marijuana Advisory Commission will be hosting a listening tour throughout the state to provide the public with an opportunity to comment on its draft reports.
The reports contain recommendations for policies the state should adopt if lawmakers and the governor decide to legalize a taxed and regulated market for marijuana.
Legislators and Gov. Phil Scott moved to legalize recreational marijuana use and possession this year, but sales of the drug still remain illegal. Marijuana taxation and regulation is poised to be a major policy debate of the upcoming legislative session
The draft reports were completed by the commission’s subcommittees on roadway safety, education and prevention, and taxation and regulation. The full commission will be weighing the subcommittee recommendations and making its recommendations to the governor by Dec. 15.
The subcommittee on taxation and regulation’s draft report recommends that Vermont adopt a 26 or 27 percent tax rate on cannabis sales, if such purchases are legalized.
If this rate were to be adopted, it would be the highest levy on marijuana sales in New England.
The education and prevention subcommittee’s report recommends the state spend $6 million to establish six “Regional Prevention Networks” if a taxed and regulated market is legalized.
The networks would provide after-school programming for children, coordinate drug use prevention marketing campaigns and “engage youth and young adults in prevention activities.”
The subcommittee also recommends spending $1 million to commission a study “to determine the impact of marijuana use on the health of Vermonters.”
Jake Perkinson, the co-chairman of the Governor’s Marijuana Advisory Commission, said the purpose of the upcoming listening tour is to give the public a chance to provide input on the commission’s recommendations.
“I don’t believe there are any preconceptions about prioritizing any particular feedback,” Perkinson said in an email.
“However, I would note that our charge is not to evaluate the wisdom of commercializing cannabis, but to make recommendations on how a taxed and regulated market could best serve Vermont if adopted.”
The meeting is scheduled to run from 6:30-8:30 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 6, at the National Guard Armory at 240 Main St. in White River Junction.