Vermont expands self-cultivation and patient access to cannabis

Vermont medical cannabis patients can now grow 12 plants, 6 of them growing, and medical cannabis products can now contain up to 100 milligrams of THC per serving versus 50 milligrams before, under a bill that Republican Governor Phil Scott let go into effect without his signature

The law also extends access to medical cannabis to patients suffering from post-traumatic stress, and increases the total number of patients a caregiver can serve at any one time.

Other provisions of the law create a new category of licensed growers, known as propagation growers, who will be authorized to grow and sell immature plants and clones. Another section of the law creates an advisory group to make recommendations for directing funding to communities that have been disproportionately affected by cannabis prohibition.

A cannabis testing laboratory will also be created at the state level. It will enable the Vermont Cannabis Control Board to randomly test products to ensure that tests performed by one of the independent labs are accurate in terms of potency and other key ingredients such as terpenes.

Vermont legislators initially legalized medical cannabis in 2004. Legislators decriminalized cannabis possession for adult use in 2018. Two years later, they passed a separate law legalizing production and retailing of cannabis products.

Governor Scott also allowed the measure to become law in the absence of his signature.