The governor’s Marijuana Advisory Commission is recommending that before Vermont moves to legalize a market for cannabis sales, the state needs to find a consistent way to test drivers for cannabis impairment.
The panel also suggests that Vermont pave the way for roadside saliva testing to determine the presence of cannabis in drivers ahead of legalizing a cannabis market.
While the commission previously had been split on whether to suggest the state allow law enforcement to use saliva testing, the recommendation came in its final report to the governor. VtDigger obtained a copy of the report before it was made public on Wednesday.
The commission had been working for more than a year on how the state should design a market for marijuana sales. Along with recommendations about roadside testing, the panel is suggesting the state levy a 26 percent tax on cannabis purchases.
The report calls for the state to create a Cannabis Board of Control, embedded within the Department of Liquor and Lottery, to oversee the private cannabis industry and establish standards for product cultivation, testing and sales.
After they moved to legalize limited possession and cultivation of marijuana earlier this year, lawmakers rejected a proposal to authorize the use of saliva tests to determine presence of cannabis in drivers.
Saliva testing was opposed by both the Defender General’s Office and the ACLU who argued that detecting a certain drug is in a person’s system does nothing to prove impairment behind the wheel.
During a meeting of the panel last week, Tom Anderson, commissioner of the Department of Public Safety, said Vermont must have a roadside impaired-driving test before a recreational cannabis market is created and that the state will likely see impaired driving rates and roadway deaths increase.
“If the experiences in Colorado and Washington are the experiences we have here, roadway deaths are going to go up, impaired driving is likely to go up,” Anderson said. “So to me, it’s critical that we have that tool if we’re going down that path.”
Anderson recommended that law enforcement be given the ability to collect and test saliva both as a roadside and evidentiary test — similar to the current protocol for driving under the influence of alcohol — through legislative action.
Sen. Joe Benning, R-Caledonia, argued there is little consensus in the scientific community regarding the relationship between impairment and THC levels in the bloodstream, which can be detected for weeks after consumption of marijuana.
In its report, the commission recommends that Vermont work with Canada and other New England states to come up with a “scientifically defensible regional impairment standard” for cannabis. Canada and Massachusetts have both legalized marijuana sales.
The commission also had been split on whether to legalize the sale of edible cannabis products, with the Vermont Department of Health arguing edibles, which have high potency, could be attractive to children.
The report does not make an explicit recommendation on edibles or products infused with marijuana, but instead says that if Vermont decides to legalize them, “no products that would be appealing to children should be permitted.”