Thor Benson / Cannabis News Box Contributor

It’s looking like Vermont will be the next state to legalize social use cannabis. According to reports, it’s likely the state’s legislature will vote to legalize as soon as January. The legislature already voted to legalize this year, but the governor vetoed the bill. He expressed certain concerns, including wanting harsher punishment for people who sell to minors. His concerns have largely been addressed, and he now looks ready to accept legalization.

If Vermont is able to legalize cannabis in this way in January, it will become the first state to legalize through its legislature. Advocates believe legalization will go through, and they are excited it’s finally happening.

“We’re definitely set to pass some sort of legislation in January,” Daniel Giangreco, a board member of the Vermont Cannabis Association, told Cannabis News Box. “I think we’re all surprised that Vermont didn’t legalize earlier, but we’ll be the first state to legalize through a legislative process.”

Giangreco said there has been some opposition to legalization in the state, but he said it has largely been spreading what he calls “misinformation.” He doesn’t believe citizens who are properly educated on cannabis oppose the bill overall. His organization represents business interests, and he said he thinks cannabis is “the most significant agricultural opportunity in the past 100 years.”

Laura Subin, the director of the Vermont Coalition to Regulate Marijuana, said she is excited to finally say that she feels cannabis will be legalized in Vermont soon. She explained that since the state doesn’t allow public referendums, like other states do, the only realistic path to legalization was through the legislature.

“There is no public referendum mechanism in Vermont,” Subin said. “It would be necessary to change Vermont’s constitution in order to hold a binding referendum, and that would be a complicated, controversial multi-year process.”

Subin agreed that the opponents of legalization in Vermont have been misrepresenting cannabis and what legalization would mean for the state. “They have relied upon misleading and flawed data to perpetuate a culture of fear and stigma around marijuana use,” she said. “Fear mongering propaganda is what has led Vermont, and the country as a whole, to continue with the failed policy of prohibition for so decades. The time for a new approach is long over due.”

Both Subin and Giangreco agreed that it’s time to stop throwing people in prison for cannabis use. There are still a few hurdles to get over, but it looks like Vermont is well on its way to doing that.