Vermont to Open Dispensaries in Summer

This summer, Vermont’s 720 licensed medical marijuana users will be able to purchase their medical marijuana in state for the first time.

Three dispensaries will open in the state over the course of the summer. Champlain Valley Dispensary in Burlington and Vermont Patients’ Alliance in Montpelier will both open on undisclosed dates this coming June. Rutland County Organics, a third dispensary based in Brandon, is also expected to open by July 4.

Lindsey Wells, a representative of Vermont’s Medical Marijuana Program that operates as part of the Department of Public Safety, recently began disbursing details about the dispensaries to in-state medical marijuana patients. Wells’ letter outlined semantic details such as hours of operation, prices and contact information in anticipation of the opening of these dispensaries.

Medical marijuana was legalized in Vermont nine years ago when the state legislature passed Senate Bill 76, which delineated the conditions for medical marijuana use.

The bill, formally titled “An Act Relating to Marijuana Use by Persons with Severe Illness,” was created to provide pain relief to patients suffering from multiple sclerosis, cancer, HIV/AIDS, cachexia and other chronic diseases.

Vermonters who are licensed to purchase medical marijuana must all have a patient identification card. In order to obtain such an identification card, patients must first receive a medical recommendation for marijuana from a medical practitioner in Vermont, New Hampshire, New York or Massachusetts.

Once in possession of an official patient identification card, Vermont patients for whom medical marijuana has been prescribed are allowed to possess a maximum of two ounces of marijuana, and are also allowed to possess smoking devices such as pipes and vaporizers. They are also legally allowed to possess two mature marijuana plants or seven immature marijuana plants.

Since the legalization of medical marijuana in 2004, patients to whom the drug — or their doctors — has been prescribed have been expected to grow their own marijuana in secure indoor facilities. Now that a number of dispensaries will exist in the state, Vermonters with patient identification cards will no longer be required to grow their own crops of marijuana.

As reported in the April 10 issue of the Campus, the Vermont legislature is currently deliberating on decriminalizing the possession of marijuana for all citizens.

However, despite efforts to decriminalize the drug, marijuana possession does remain illegal in the state for people without a card, and some critics are worried that dispensaries will increase the illegal possession of marijuana.

Owners and operators of the dispensaries, however, argue that security will be strictly enforced.

“There will be 24-hour surveillance,” said Shayne Lynn, a representative of the Champlain Valley Dispensary. “There will be two people at the store at all times and [they] will take all the necessary precautions.”

Vermont was the first state to place its medical marijuana registry and its dispensaries under the complete jurisdiction of law enforcement agencies, and the process by which marijuana is purchased from dispensaries will remain highly regulated. The dispensaries will operate under a strict set of guidelines that are enforced by the Department of Public Safety.

Patients who wish to purchase marijuana from one of the dispensaries must choose which dispensary they wish to use. Once they have done so, they will be issued a new identification card that will enable them to legally make purchases from the store.

Once a patient has been issued an identification card linked to a particular dispensary, they will no longer be able to grow their own marijuana.

Furthermore, in an attempt to make medical marijuana affordable for low-income patients, all three dispensaries will offer percentage discounts based on income.

The three dispensaries will be offering multiple varieties of marijuana, many of which are designed to relieve particular medical ailments. Furthermore, all three of the dispensaries will offer smoke-free options to marijuana consumption such as tinctures, edibles, oils, salves and sub-lingual sprays.

Vermont law allows for a maximum of four dispensaries in the state. Applications to become the state’s fourth and final dispensary will open within the next two months.