Vermont rejects plan for cannabis cultivators to sell to consumers

Some Vermont cannabis cultivators say they might be forced out of business after state lawmakers rejected a plan that would have allowed them to sell marijuana directly to consumers.

Small growers wanted lawmakers to approve a pilot program under which they would conduct direct-to-consumer sales at places such as farmers markets, according to Vermont Public.

The growers say that limited shelf space makes it hard for them to sell their cannabis.

“We are at a turning point,” Ethan Kramer, co-owner of Tilia Hillis in Fairfield, told the Senate Committee on Agriculture in March, according to GreenMountain Cannabis News.

“We do not have an oversupply. We have a bottleneck at retail.

“Everything goes through that, so small farms are failing. They are going out of business and it’s going to continue to happen.”

Members of the Vermont House opposed the plan because they thought it would appear the state promotes marijuana use.

“They could literally take over the Champlain Valley Fairgrounds or the Rutland fairgrounds,” Republican Rep. Jim Harrison told Vermont Public.

“I questioned whether or not that’s what we want to be doing.

“To me, that would be promoting cannabis, not controlling cannabis.”

Vermont has 403 cultivators vying for shelf space at 110 retailers across the state, according to the Cannabis Control Board.

The board stopped issuing licenses to new retailers last fall and extended the moratorium to growers in February, the Seven Days media outlet reported.