Vermont Recreational Marijuana Will be Legal on July 1st
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The reaction of states considering the legalization of recreational marijuana in 2018 is rather amazing after the justice department set U.S. attorneys loose on state legal cannabis businesses to start the year. Everyone was sort of expecting Vermont to legalize recreational marijuana use but the rescinding of the Cole Memo did nothing to deter them as Governor Phil Scott just signed legislation making Vermont recreational marijuana legal come July 1st.
It may not be coincidental that Vermont rushed legalization of cannabis to start on July 1st considering Massachusetts is set to offer legal cannabis sales on the same day. Even though Vermont is not allowing retail sales of recreational cannabis as of now, they will still have to contend with its residents traveling to their southern neighbor to purchase it.
Vermont Gov. Phil Scott signed the state’s marijuana bill into law Monday, in private, with the state becoming the first in the country to authorize the recreational use of the substance by an act of a state legislature.
The law, which goes into effect July 1, allows adults to possess up to 1 ounce of marijuana, two mature and four immature plants.
A few notes on the plants: The plants must be in a secure enclosure that is screened from public view. Marijuana harvested from plants doesn’t count toward the one-ounce limit as long as it’s stored on-site, in an indoor place, and “reasonable precautions are taken to prevent unauthorized access to the marijuana.”
People will start facing three years in prison and a $10,000 fine if convicted of having two ounces of marijuana, and the penalties continue to rise for greater amounts.
It will be a misdemeanor crime to use marijuana in a car with a child, with penalties starting at $500 and two points on a driver’s license.
It is an interesting point that Vermont is not permitting the sales of legal cannabis, but it will allow adults to grow their own plants. It basically forces residents to cross state lines in order to purchase marijuana, if they are not going to grow their own, and then bring it home. Do you think federal authorities will monitor people crossing state lines with marijuana since that would be a federal offense?
Read more: https://goo.gl/UugC45
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