ROYALTON — The Selectboard approved putting cannabis retail on the November ballot per request by a nearby dispensary owner, but some community members aren’t thrilled about the idea.
The town’s public safety committee held a meeting Wednesday to discuss the upcoming decision on whether to allow cannabis sales in Royalton, with Shannon Morrill, the owner of Something Wicked dispensary in Bethel, present to answer questions.
Despite providing more context about her store and its precautions, Morrill still faced some opposition.
“I don’t think we should normalize drug use in our community,” said Beth Wilhite, chair of the public safety committee.
Back in 2020, Vermont passed an act allowing towns to “opt-in” to cannabis retail. With it, dispensaries may open if a majority of residents vote in favor. In the Upper Valley, Hartford, Bethel, Bradford, Fairlee, Randolph, Strafford, Windsor and Woodstock have opted in, but Royalton has not.
At least, not yet.
Morrill, a Royalton resident, has operated her dispensary in Bethel since 2023. Due to the location being down a flight of stairs off Main Street– which is not as accessible or visible as she’d like– Morrill is looking into other options for when her lease ends in November.
Having grown up in Royalton and with a customer base from Vermont Law and Graduate School in town, it’s her first choice for relocation. Before Morrill can start looking into empty storefronts, she needs permission from the townspeople.
“It’s a big project, so we wouldn’t even be looking until February or March to be getting started. And I didn’t want to get my hopes up on any one property,” Morrill said at the Wednesday meeting.
Earlier this summer, Morrill approached the Royalton Selectboard, asking that cannabis retail be placed on the August ballot. Due to limited time to warn voters, the November election was a natural next step.
While member Christopher “Kip” Bergstrom felt that Morrill should submit a petition signed by 5% of the voters before adding a retail cannabis question, other members said voters should just decide on election day. They approved it for the Nov. 3 ballot, 3-2.
At the Selectboard’s Aug. 11 meeting, the public safety committee urged the board to reconsider. The committee then held its own meeting Wednesday, where members and residents raised concerns.”
One possibility raised is that any dispensary owner can come in once the item is approved, and that person may not be as willing to listen to public input. Committee members also said that if Royalton later opts out, a dispensary already licensed and operating has the right to stay.
Morrill responded that the process is long and complicated, so it’s unlikely someone will beat her to it, and there’s not enough business to support two retailers.
Considering worry over intoxication in public or on the roads, Morrill noted that it’s illegal to use cannabis in a retail establishment or in public, and she’s seen minimal loitering outside her Bethel store.
“We know that most of our customers take this stuff home. They use it in the evening instead of a glass of wine,” said Morrill, who added that her concern is intoxicated driving from the bars.
Some of the edible products sold at Morrill’s store resemble candy in the form of chocolates and gummies, and a single package can contain up to 100 milligrams of THC. Under state law, those packages have to be divided into servings of no more than 5 milligrams each.
Wilhite said a child who ate an entire package could be seriously harmed, depending on their age and size. Symptoms of marijuana toxicity in small children could include “respiratory depression, respiratory failure, altered mental status, ataxia, hypotonia, seizure, and unresponsiveness,” according to the National Institutes of Health.
Morrill responded that they provide locked cases and can educate parents on how to keep it out of reach. She added that there is plenty of marijuana making its way through the high school system, which is unregulated and unsafe.
“I’m not sure that having a dispensary or not is going to change how our teenagers see pot” said Morrill. “It’s everywhere right now, and we probably should be having much more honest conversations with them.”
Due to state regulations, product at the dispensary may not be visible from street level and would be hidden by frosted windows up to 7 feet high, said Morrill.
At the Bethel location, there was one break-in where someone allegedly popped out an air conditioner and slipped through the 6-inch window opening according to Morrill.
“He grabbed three jars of gummies from the display area, and all of a sudden, on the videotape, you see him grab his ears as the alarm starts to go off, and he dove back out the window,” said Morrill.
When the alarm goes off, state police are dispatched to the store, said Morrill. If the dispensary were in Royalton, local police may respond instead depending on the time.
With the dispensary would come additional security cameras outside the store. Robin Maynard Seaver, who owns Green Mountain Linen on Chelsea Street said in a comment that increased monitoring could help mitigate more severe drug-use problems in town.
“And it’s not pot; it’s much worse,” she said.
Morrill said they require photo ID from customers immediately upon entry if they appear to be under 35 years old, but everyone is ID’d at checkout no matter what. No one under 21 may enter the store, even infants accompanying a parent shopper.
One resident, Toni Ventrella, said she had a different experience when she visited with her daughter, who was a customer.
“I was in your shop. Nobody asked for ID,” Ventrella said to Morrill.
“That employee doesn’t work for us anymore,” Morrill responded.
After the meeting, Morrill said she checked her records and found that Ventrella’s ID was scanned when she visited the store. While she did not have Ventrella’s daughter’s name, she said she was either scanned in, asked to leave or did not buy anything.
The state conducts an annual full check to ensure compliance with all regulations before license renewal, and may visit unexpectedly, said Morrill. Those who wish to work at Something Wicked undergo a full FBI background check, and may not be intoxicated on the job under any circumstances.
“It’s not a few stoners who are running a shop. There’s so much regulation and so many moving parts and details that you have to be on your toes back there,” said Morrill.
Committee member Sam Wood asked Morrill how she’d prevent the smell of the cannabis from going into nearby restaurants, and she responded that the products are closed and she uses fans and open windows for ventilation.
Resident Peggy Ainsworth commented that while she supports medical marijuana for those who need it, she worries about people self-medicating and perhaps exacerbating mental illness.
Asked by Wilhite what benefits Something Wicked would bring to Royalton, Morrill said she constantly refers customers to other local businesses, especially those who drive into town specifically for her dispensary.
Royalton itself would not collect anything on cannabis sales. Retail cannabis carries a 14% state excise tax on top of Vermont’s 6% sales tax, but that money goes to the state.
Only towns that have adopted a 1% local option sales tax take a share. Royalton has never adopted a local option tax of any kind; a proposal to tax meals, lodging and alcohol failed on a 51-51 tie in 2025.
A second forum on the ballot measure is scheduled for 7 p.m. Oct. 1 in the Academy Building, 4182 VT-14. It will be moderated by the Selectboard and the public is encouraged to attend.
“I will live with whatever the vote is,” said Morrill. “I’m not out there campaigning for it; I’m just trying to make sure everyone has the facts.”
Editor’s note: This story was updated to reflect new information shared by Morrill regarding customer records.
