WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — As towns across Vermont consider whether to allow dispensaries following a new state law legalizing the sale of recreational cannabis, Selectboard members have decided Hartford isn’t ready to answer that question.

“I’m extremely apprehensive about putting something on the ballot where we don’t have as much information as we should have,” board member Joe Major said at a special virtual meeting held Tuesday night to discuss the upcoming March Town Meeting warning.

Board members spent an hour debating whether to include a question on the ballot about marijuana dispensaries. The question would allow voters to decide if Hartford should “permit and regulate” establishments that sell marijuana.

Though one board member, Alicia Barrow, made a motion to allow the question, none of the other five members seconded her motion. Board member Rachel Edens was absent for the meeting.

The question follows a decision by Republican Gov. Phil Scott in October to allow a marijuana sales legalization bill to take effect without his signature.

A Cannabis Control Board, made up largely of public officials and other appointees, will finalize rules regarding sales over the coming year and will issue licenses to retailers in 2022.

Possession of small amounts of marijuana by adults has been legal in the state since 2017, but each town will now need to vote to opt to allow dispensaries there. If the measure is rejected at a town level, it’s effectively a ban on all cannabis sales in that municipality until there is a vote of approval, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Richard Sears, D-Bennington, said in an email Wednesday.

Tuesday’s meeting was the last chance the Hartford Selectboard had to put the question on the ballot for this year, but Sears said towns will have another chance next year. Additionally, residents can petition to put the question on a special Town Meeting ballot if they gather 350 signatures, board members said at the meeting.

Board Chair Dan Fraser said at Tuesday’s meeting that idea of adding the question to the ballot was raised only within the last few weeks. He said the town could potentially receive “some funds” from the sale of cannabis, but it’s unclear how much.

Some residents and board members raised concerns about how sales would affect the town.

“I’m not completely adept at what all this means, because I don’t think the state is,” board member Joe Major said.

Other members and residents raised questions about the process that weren’t answered Tuesday.

Board member Kim Souza wondered what responsibility the town, rather than the state, would have in “regulating” sales, while Hartford resident Lannie Collins questioned what kind of tax the town would put on cannabis sales.

“It seems that putting this item on the ballot for voters without information … is a little hasty,” Collins said.

Barrow, who said she supports having a dispensary in town, added that the board should give the public the option to have their voice heard on the issue. She added that the town and the public will have enough time between now and Town Meeting in March to gather information about how sales may work.

Some opponents of the question claimed marijuana sales could have a negative effect on public health and the use of harder drugs, like opiates.

“To make this decision in the absence of clear data about connection between marijuana and hard drugs is irresponsible,” Selectboard member Simon Dennis said.

Wilder resident Em Zanleoni, the director of the Hartford Community Coalition, which receives grant funding for being part of a “drug-free community,” agreed with Dennis and claimed marijuana has a “severe and pervasive impact on public health.”

Burlington attorney Tim Fair, who specializes in the law around cannabis sales, said in an interview Wednesday that there’s no truth to the claim that marijuana increases the use of narcotics in a community. Rather, he said, studies have shown that marijuana legalization is connected to a decrease in opiate use and alcohol use.

“The facts don’t show any of that to be true,” Fair said. “Let’s really look at the facts.”

He also took issue with the board’s decision, saying the choice should be up to voters, not town officials. Strafford’s Selectboard earlier this month approved putting an article on the Town Meeting warning about cannabis retailers in town, and other towns around Vermont are already anticipating getting the question on their March ballots, including Burlington, Middlebury and Vergennes, while towns like Montpelier and Waterbury are considering it, he said.

Anna Merriman can be reached at amerriman@vnews.com or 603-727-3216.