Medical Cannabis Policy Update
Significant changes to the Vermont Medical Cannabis Program are at the center of Bill H.612, the leading cannabis-related bill this legislative session in the State House. With crossover behind us, a procedural deadline for bills to move from one legislative chamber to the other to be passed into law, Bill H.612 has emerged as the leading cannabis-related legislation and most likely to reach the Governor's desk this year. We dive deep into each medical-related section of the bill and offer analysis to help keep you informed.
In early January, the Vermont 2024 legislative session began with a handful of different cannabis-related bills, some introduced this year and some pre-existing from last year. Over the last few months, some of those bills have fallen by the wayside, and some have had language lifted from them and included in what has emerged as the leading cannabis-related bill this legislative session, Bill H.612, an act relating to miscellaneous cannabis amendments, the Cannabis Control Boards (CCB) bill, and the bill that is most likely to advance toward enactment this year.
What’s in Bill H.612?
Below we dive deep into all six (6) Medical Cannabis Program-specific sections of Bill H.612 and offer analysis so that patients, caregivers, and the general public are well-informed on this important piece of legislation as it enters the Senate chamber where we plan to engage the bill in committee with local stakeholders. The current text of Bill H.612 is a little challenging to find on the Vermont General Assembly website, so we include it here (link) and encourage you to read the bill alongside the deep dive and analysis.
Section 3
This section proposes changes to prohibited products with language to allow medical-use-endorsed retailers (MUE) to possess and sell cannabis products that test over the limits restricted by the THC caps. When Bill H.612 was introduced this section proposed striking the THC caps but was later changed in the House Committee on Government Operations and Military Affairs to only apply to retailers with a medical-use endorsed license, a new license type defined later in this legislation and detailed below.
Analysis: Vermont became the first state to restrict THC in an adult-use regulated market by banning flower that tests higher than 30% THC and “solid” concentrates that test higher than 60% THC with the passage of Bill S.54 in 2020. Nearly three (3) years under this ban there are clear widespread ramifications for the local medical cannabis community, as well as the adult-use market.
Not every Vermont resident who uses cannabis for therapeutic and medical purposes is a state-registered patient. Limiting access to high-THC products, which the State implicitly acknowledges may have a therapeutic and medical role by not banning high-THC products for state-registered patients, is unreasonable and overly burdensome to those who use cannabis for therapeutic and medical purposes and are not registered patients. To the point, Vermont is one of the few states with a medical cannabis registry that experienced a drop in registrants (most states see an annual increase).
Section 5
This section proposes significant changes to the Medical Cannabis Program by beginning to decentralize retail locations where state-registered patients and caregivers can access products by allowing adult-use retailers to obtain a new medical-use-endorsement license type that matches the regulatory benefits a Vermont medical dispensary has traditionally been afforded, including tax-free sales, delivery, curbside pickup, the allowance to sell products banned under the THC caps, and more.
This section in Bill H.612 was not in the original version of the legislation and was later amended in the House Committee on Government Operations and Military Affairs with the language.
Analysis: We support increasing access to the Medical Cannabis Program. Historically, access to Vermont's medical program has been extremely restrictive and limited to five (5) medical dispensary locations statewide. Opening up and decentralizing medical cannabis retail operations through the MUE concept means Vermonters will benefit from increased points of access to products that improve their daily lives.
In the Senate, we will work to improve this section and the MUE concept by including language protecting patient data and mandating education language.
Section 6
This is a technical yet important section that proposes a license fee for the new MUE concept. The proposed fee would cost $10,250, which is $250 more than the adult-use retailer license fee of $10,000.
Analysis: With only five (5) medical dispensaries statewide, decentralizing the retail experience and significantly increasing access is a top priority for patients and caregivers in the State Medical Cannabis Program. The State should incentivize adult-use retailers to participate in the program by keeping the license fee the same as retailers to encourage expanding access.
Section 7
This short section proposes including a single condition, ulcerative colitis, as an eligible medical condition for the Medical Cannabis Program.
Analysis: Lawmakers in the State House generally don't wish to function as medical professionals by recommending individual conditions to benefit from cannabis use. A better way to approach the list of eligible conditions for the Medical Cannabis Program is to allow medical professionals and other key stakeholders to determine the list of conditions as a deliberative body under the Cannabis Control Board, where the Medical Cannabis Program resides. In this section, we recommend including opioid prescriptions and re-establishing a Medical Cannabis Program Advisory Committee, similar to past oversight committees, to oversee and manage the eligible conditions for the program within the agency.
Section 8
This section proposes changing the renewal period for all state-registered patients to every three (3) years.
Analysis: We support the language in this section but would strengthen it to include the formation of a new Medical Cannabis Program Fund to be supported by medical program-related fees and used for creating and increasing equity in the medical program,
Section 9
This section proposes reducing the medical dispensary license fee from $25,000 to $5,000, and the one-time application fee from $5,000 to $1,000.
Analysis: We oppose this section. Medical dispensaries are vertically integrated businesses that can grow, manufacture, distribute, and sell products to state-registered medical cannabis patients and caregivers – their fee structure should have greater parity with the adult-use licensing structure and no less than $10,000, the license fee of an adult-use retail license.
Conclusion And A Look Ahead
This 2024 legislative session is offering a renewed examination of the State Medical Cannabis Program, which has largely remained static and debilitated for over a decade, an unfortunate reality highlighted by Vermont being one of the few states with a medical cannabis registry that experienced a reduction in registrants (again, most states see an annual increase). In addition to the legislature, we anticipate the CCB to open a rules amendment process after the legislative session adjourns this year, including Rule 3, Medical Cannabis, which will be another critical opportunity to influence and improve the program.
This year, we plan to close out the legislative session by supporting sections of H.612 that we agree with and introducing recommendations and changes to sections we don't yet support. The adult-use market should not and cannot negate the need for a state medical program, and, if anything, it should be a collaborative effort across the regulated market and medical program to help move Vermont closer to the robust, equitable, and accessible medical cannabis program that its patients and caregivers demand.
