Vermont inaugurates its first legal cannabis sales

On Saturday, October 1, adult-use cannabis retail stores finally opened their doors in Vermont, to lines of people who had been waiting patiently since dawn.

It took two years for state legislators to approve the retail sale of cannabis for adult use, and over four years to regulate cultivation and possession personal.

On September 14, the Cannabis Control Board Vermont has granted cannabis licenses Mountain Girl Cannabis in Rutland and Flora Cannabis in Middlebury, and has given the green light to Ceres Med - formerly Champlain Valley Dispensary - in South Burlington to add adult products to its medical products business.

Regulators said that delays in issuing licenses for outdoor growers could create supply problems in the early stages of the adult-use market. And indeed, the legal offer was somewhat limited at the opening of sales: a dozen varieties of flowers, candies and a few vapes. But that didn't dampen the spirits of the first legal buyers.

«Things are changing and things are good. It's about time,» said Bryan Menard, the first adult buyer at the Ceres Collaborative on Saturday morning, who walked away with 2 1/8 ounces (3.5 grams) of Candy Jack and Kush Cake.

Representative Sarah Copeland Hanzas contributed to pass the 2020 legalization measure as chair of the House Government Operations Committee and is now the Democratic nominee for Vermont Secretary of State. She left the Flora Cannabis boutique with a grinder and a sweatshirt with the FLORA logo.

«I'm growing my own plants this year, so I don't really need to buy flower,» she told the Seven Days.

«It's really exciting to see this day finally arrive after so many years of working to get cannabis out of the’prohibition era and bring it into a legal, regulated market,» she added.