You can’t ignore the elephant in the room—that is, that cannabis is now legal in Vermont and sold to adults, and it’s only a matter of time until high school students are fully aware of their future options when they become adults.

WCAX in Vermont profiled various school officials to probe what their plans are and how the conversation around cannabis will continue, now that sales are legal for adults.

“Acknowledging that marijuana laws have changed—it’s for sale—so we take a really nuanced view here, which is talking to them about the realities of situations, but also talking to them about where they’re at in their actual lives,” Matt Meunier, a student assistance programming counselor at Champlain Valley Union High School in Hinesburg, Vermont, told WCAX.

Chittenden County—home to Champlain Valley Union High School—is also home to at least 10 cannabis retail stores, and school officials can’t keep pretending that they don’t exist.

“Talking about decision-making, what choices you want and what life you want to live helps take it away from just, ‘Hey, this is all available to you now,’ to what type of member of my community do I want to be? What are my habits?” said Meunier.

Meunier said there are more ways to consume cannabis now, but that there hasn’t been a noticeable increase in student use.

“I think the longer that students put off using for the first time or experimenting for the first time, the easier it gets for them to make those choices and the healthier it will be for them at the end,” said Meunier.

Kelly Dougherty with the Department of Health said that Vermont has the second-highest percentage of people nationwide aged 12 to 17 reporting using cannabis in the past 30 days—but that it’s ultimately up to parents to teach their kids about cannabis, among other things.

The results of a Monitoring the Future (MTF) Survey, conducted by the University of Michigan, were released on Dec. 16, 2015 by the university and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). The study revealed that daily cannabis use among high school seniors has “changed little since 2010,” despite the advent of legalization in several states and its consideration in many others.

Another interpretation of the study, however, notes that cannabis use becoming more popular than tobacco use, because for the first time “more high school seniors smoke marijuana daily than cigarettes.”

“Parents are the number one influence on their kids. Our kids are watching us all the time and they model the behavior that they see. So, even with alcohol, we recommend that if parents are using alcohol, keep it kind of out of sight and talk to your kids about the risks of it,” said Dougherty.

The main concern appears to be curbing underage use until they are old enough to decide on their own.

“We like to focus on helping youth develop healthy coping strategies, again, protecting brain health so they can be their best selves. Just because something is legal doesn’t mean it’s safe,” said Dougherty.

Adult-Use Cannabis in Vermont

On Jan. 22, 2018, Gov. Phil Scott signed the adult-use cannabis bill into law, which made Vermont the ninth state in the nation at the time to have legalized cannabis for both medical and recreational purposes. Starting July 1, 2018, adults living in Vermont were permitted to possess up to one ounce of cannabis, as well as grow up to six plants. 

It would take over a year for retail sales to launch in the state.

In 2020, Vermont became the 11th state to tax and regulate cannabis for adults. Two years later, sales figures are beginning to show the rewards. Adult-use cannabis sales officially launched in Vermont recently, with stores in three communities opening their doors to customers.

Under Vermont law, a portion of the excise tax revenue is allocated to fill any deficit in the control board’s budget. Of the excise tax revenue, 70% goes to the state general fund, and 30% goes towards substance abuse and prevention funds. Cannabis sales tax revenue is earmarked for after-school and summer learning programs.

Vermont’s adult-use cannabis industry took off with a bang. According to the Vermont Department of Taxes, Vermont cannabis stores sold $2.6 million worth of product in October, the first month of legal cannabis sales.

James Pepper, chair of the Vermont Cannabis Control Board, said that $2.1 to $2.4 million in excise taxes could be collected during the first nine months of cannabis sales. That translates to around $233,000 to $267,000 per month. “They look pretty much like our projections were accurate,” Pepper said.

Vermont legalized personal possession and cultivation of cannabis for adults back in 2018. The state legalized medical cannabis in 2004.

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Local news station WFSB reports that the facility, which is being built in New Britain, Connecticut, will be “close to five schools, some of which are less than a mile away.”

Locals in New Britain are concerned about that proximity, citing the expected odor from the new cultivation center. 

“How should we explain to our children who want to play outside what that smell is? How should the teachers at [the schools] explain to their students that the city is more concerned with revenue than their own health and wellbeing,” New Britain resident Shelley Vincenzo told the station. 

“I’m not against marijuana, we know the goods and the bad for it. What I’m against is having that kind of establishment in a community that’s been trying to thrive and trying to build into something that’s better than marijuana,” said Franciso Santiago, also of New Britain, as quoted by WFSB.

But all those objections are apparently moot, as “the proposal still passed with the amendment that the developers must install and maintain an odor control mitigation system approved by the department of public health.”

The construction developer behind the project “says an odor control plan will be submitted to the city,” according to the station.

Legal recreational cannabis sales kicked off in Connecticut last month after the state’s Democratic governor, Ned Lamont, signed legislation ending the prohibition on pot back in 2021. The Associated Press reported that state-approved “shops in Branford, Meriden, Montville, New Haven, Newington, Stamford and Willimantic were expected to open their doors to the general public on the first day,” with another two dispensaries “in Danbury and Torrington” slated to open later.

“That’s why I introduced a bill and worked hard with our partners in the legislature and other stakeholders to create a comprehensive framework for a securely regulated market that prioritizes public health, public safety, social justice, and equity. It will help eliminate the dangerous unregulated market and support a new, growing sector of our economy which will create jobs,” Lamont said in a statement at the time of the bill signing. “By allowing adults to possess cannabis, regulating its sale and content, training police officers in the latest techniques of detecting and preventing impaired driving, and expunging the criminal records of people with certain cannabis crimes, we’re not only effectively modernizing our laws and addressing inequities, we’re keeping Connecticut economically competitive with our neighboring states.” 

On the day that legal sales began in Connecticut last month, Lamont said that it marked “a turning point in the injustices caused by the war on drugs, most notably now that there is a legal alternative to the dangerous, unregulated, underground market for cannabis sales.”

In addition to laying the groundwork for a regulated retail cannabis market, the new law put thousands of Connecticut adults on the road to having their records cleared.

Lamont announced in December that about 44,000 individuals would be getting their low-level marijuana convictions expunged in the new year.

“On January 1, thousands of people in Connecticut will have low-level cannabis convictions automatically erased due to the cannabis legalization bill we enacted last year,” Lamont said. “Especially as Connecticut employers seek to fill hundreds of thousands of job openings, an old conviction for low-level cannabis possession should not hold someone back from pursuing their career, housing, professional, and educational aspirations.”

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What cannabis strains are best for parents moonlighting as teachers this school year?

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Heading back to school? Ever thought about giving cannabis college a try? You wouldn’t be the only one.

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