Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Sears, D-Bennington. File photo by Amy Ash Nixon/VTDigger
The bill, proposed by Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Sears, D-Bennington, would make significant changes to the current medical system, including doubling the number of licenses for dispensaries and expanding the medical conditions that are eligible for medical pot.
The state’s four current dispensaries are in Burlington, Montpelier, Brattleboro and Brandon. That distribution means patients in some parts of the state face lengthy drives.
S.16 would make several adjustments to the medical system, including allowing dispensaries to grow outside and letting patients purchase more product at a time.
The effort to adjust the registry comes after a panel of legislators took testimony on marijuana over the summer and fall. Sears says the legislation is separate from a proposal put forward in the House this week that would allow adults to legally possess small amounts of marijuana and grow a few plants at home.
Many in the industry welcomed proposals to change the medical marijuana registry. Opinions on how it should be changed vary.
Health Commissioner Harry Chen is one of those who had concerns about the bill. File photo by Elizabeth Hewitt/VTDigger
He testified that he recently drove an hour and a half to Brattleboro to the dispensary there, where he purchased five marijuana plants to grow at home. He urged lawmakers to relax the current law, which restricts patients who grow their own plants from purchasing product at dispensaries. The bill would make that change.
Shayne Lynn, executive director of Champlain Valley Dispensary Inc., which runs one dispensary in Burlington and another in Brattleboro, opposed the proposal in the bill to expand the number of licenses, saying he did not believe there is enough market in Vermont to support the additional businesses.
Amy Ford, of Grassroots Vermont, the dispensary in Brandon, echoed that. She favored moving toward a system where existing dispensaries would have the option to open three satellite locations, rather than creating licenses for new businesses. She also asked lawmakers not to impose geographic restrictions, arguing that competition between businesses in a certain area, such as Burlington, would help drive down prices.
Others supported the bill’s proposal to introduce more licenses. Bennington resident Bernie Barriere, of Vermont Pharma, said he questioned that simply allowing existing dispensaries to open new locations would establish competition.
He and others, including Dave Silberman, said Vermont currently has among the highest costs for medicinal marijuana in the country.
Jeffrey Wallin, director of the Vermont Crime Information Center, which oversees the medical marijuana program, said an increased number of patients and dispensaries would weigh on department resources.
With the changes in the bill, he estimates the number of patients enrolled in the program could as much as double. Currently, 3,817 patients are on the registry.
The additional patients would increase the workload for employees in the program. Changes to the dispensaries, such as adding new licenses and allowing advertising, would also require additional work by the program to ensure the businesses are in compliance, he said.
Paul Harrington, of the Vermont Medical Society, had concerns about aspects of the legislation.
He opposed language in the bill that would expand the conditions that qualify a person for the registry, which he said could make someone eligible if they came down with a cold. He also questioned a part of the bill that would require medical professionals to go through one hour of training related to medical marijuana to renew their licenses.
Dr. Harry Chen, commissioner of the Department of Health, said he was a lawmaker when the bill that created the medical marijuana system passed, and that he voted in favor of it. He said his tenure at the helm of the Health Department has not changed his support for the system, but it “has tempered the degree to which I’m anxious to expand.”
Chen said he was concerned about the list of conditions that would be eligible under the bill for the medical marijuana system. He said there is a dearth of scientific evidence backing up marijuana’s effect on some of the conditions included in the bill.
He also opposed the section of the bill that would allow dispensaries to advertise, saying it would send a mixed message to young people.
After the hearing, Sears said he expects the committee will continue work to refine the sections of the bill that deal with which conditions are eligible for medical marijuana, and will consider the proposal for creating new licenses. He hopes to pass the bill out of his committee by the end of next week, he said.
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