Vermont board urged to start thinking about local marijuana policy

By PATRICK ADRIAN
[email protected]
WINDSOR and WINDHAM COUNTIES, Vt. — With Vermont’s passage of a law legalizing marijuana, substance abuse prevention groups are looking to engage communities in dialogues to prepare for its implementation.

Two coalitions — Greater Falls Connections of Bellows Falls and Mount Ascutney Prevention Partnership in Windsor County — have that community outreach goal but are taking different approaches.

The marijuana law goes into effect July 1 and will allow those 21 years old or older to possess up to one ounce of marijuana and five grams of hashish. It will also allow those adults to grow up to two mature plants or four immature plants on their property.  Legal adults may consume marijuana on private property, though it will still be illegal to use it in public.

Greater Falls Connections and Mount Ascutney Prevention Partnership work with families and youth to prevent substance abuse.  Both organizations share particular concerns about some of the mistakes made by Colorado and Washington, the first states to legalize marijuana commercially.

These missteps generally get overlooked in national stories and the lack of federal or state regulations makes the health impact difficult to study, according to observers.

Advocates hope Vermont, which plans to draft commercial regulations, will take more into consideration.

“Many edibles being sold in Colorado and Washington have incredibly high potency,” Sheehan said during a meeting in Windsor, adding that tetrahydrocannabinol  (THC) — the active ingredient in marijuana — can be found in higher levels than the government uses.

“What the federal government is allowed to grow and study is like 12 percent [THC],” Sheehan said. “Some of the stuff being consumed out west is 75 percent, and some of the smokables are 15 to 25 percent.”

Sheehan and colleague Courtney Hillhouse delivered a presentation to Windsor’s Selectboard on Jan. 23.  Expecting marijuana to become a retail product in Vermont’s future, Sheehan encouraged towns to begin discussing how they want marijuana retailers to operate. Sheehan said towns can minimize unwanted impacts through local policies.

In 2015, Sheehan helped  Weathersfield craft a policy to counter concerns surrounding a business selling tobacco and drug paraphernalia.  The policy prohibits establishments drug or tobacco products within a half-mile radius of schools, child-care centers, recreational fields or libraries.  Sheehan said towns have greater ability to regulate “adults-only products,” a generalized category for any items — including marijuana — that cannot be sold to minors.

Sheehan believes that policymaking is the most effective approach to curbing youth substance abuse, saying it gives “the most bang for the buck” in terms of outcome.

Studies show a direct influence by advertising and public exposure on children’s substance use, she said.  One study found that 11- to 14-year-olds who visit convenience, liquor or small grocery stores at least twice a week are twice as likely to begin smoking as peers who do not.

Policies proven effective to curb substance misuse include limiting business locations, Sheehan told Windsor selectmen, adding that policies which limit exposure to children are effective in curbing misuse by minors.

Unlike New Hampshire, Vermont is a home rule state. Vermont towns can pass their own laws so long as they follow those on the state level. Vermont’s legalization bill, H511 gives towns authority to impose regulations and civil penalties against consumption on public property.

The only question is whether towns will have the same local options later. When drafting regulations for commercial marijuana, legislators could potentially include rules that would override certain town controls.

For that reason, Sheehan did not ask towns to begin drafting local policies.  Instead, she recommended they use discussions to  “identify their core values” and the culture they would like to preserve amid economic change. From that, they can explore other types of policies they would like to pursue.

The purpose is to be proactive, said Sheehan, to get towns into conversation.

Meanwhile in Windham County, Greater Falls Connections want to encourage conversations directly with families and others in the community.  Their purpose is to effect change through education and open dialogue.

Greater Falls Connections is preparing to hold “Cannabis Conversations” with parents and children, which members say will create a comfortable, non-judgemental environment for sharing information and experiences.

“Our approach is not to use scare tactics,” Greater Falls’ Director Laura Schairbaum said. “We want information to be factual.”

Schaibaum wants  families to think about what is healthy for the children.  With marijuana, and other drugs, the subject is not necessarily the substance but when it accompanies an underlying need to self-medicate.

In keeping with Greater Falls’ overarching philosophy, Schairbaum believes these community conversations should be safe places to share and listen, without judgment.

“Addiction is a health issue,” she says. “Not morality.”