Recently Governor Phil Scott signed H.511 into law, making Vermont the ninth state to legalize marijuana, and the first to do so through a state legislature.
Vermont’s new law comes only weeks after Attorney General Sessions rescinded Obama-era guidance limiting federal interference with state marijuana programs. Whether Sessions likes it or not, the federal government cannot prevent states from legalizing marijuana. Even if he could stop them, it would be bad policy — and bad politics.
As a new report from the Drug Policy Alliance reveals, states are effectively controlling marijuana and protecting public safety and health through comprehensive regulations.
On Nov. 6, 2012, Colorado and Washington became the first two states — and first two jurisdictions in the world — to legalize marijuana for adult use. Two years later Alaska, Oregon and Washington, D.C. followed suit. In 2016 voters in four additional states — California, Massachusetts, Maine and Nevada — also approved ballot measures legalizing marijuana.
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