The second half of the 2009-2010 session of the Vermont Legislature is underway. Rep. David Zuckerman (P-Burlington) is sponsoring H.150 and Sen. Jeanette White (D-Putney) sponsors S.71. These companion bills would reduce the penalty for possessing up to an ounce of marijuana from up to six months in jail to a $100 civil fine. MPP, in partnership with our grantee, the Vermont Alliance for Intelligent Drug Laws (VALID), will be actively lobbying throughout the session to get these bills out of committee and onto the floor for an up-or-down vote.

The Vermont legislature has a lot on its plate, though, and it a short session t's important that your legislators hear from you now so they know that reforming Vermont's marijuana laws should be a priority this year.Please contact your representative now and urge him or her to support this sensible legislation.

We're also looking for professionals in the legal community and victims of Vermont's draconian drug laws to help us in our cause. If you're a criminal justice attorney, or if you or a loved one has been arrested for simple marijuana possession, please contact our Vermont organizer and former prosecutor Dan Riffle at driffle@mpp.org. Please include your nine-digit ZIP code or address so we can determine who your legislators are and how you can best help.

In the past few months, two more states, Maine and New Jersey, have added their names to the growing list of states that want to not only protect medical marijuana patients from arrest but also ensure that they have access to the medicine their doctor recommends. Right now in Vermont, medical marijuana patients who are suffering from debilitating illnesses like HIV/AIDS, cancer, and multiple sclerosis are forced to either grow their own marijuana, a difficult and time consuming process, or turn to the illicit market. This isn't how we treat patients who take other medication, and it's not the way to treat medical marijuana patients.

Senators White and Miller, and Senate President Pro Tem Shumlin have introduced SB 226 which would make Vermont the fifth state in the country to authorize state licensed compassion centers that can dispense medical marijuana to qualifying patients. By creating a state-regulated non-profit distribution system, patients would no longer be left to their own imaginations when it comes to accessing doctor-recommended medication. Please urge your representatives in Montpelier to support this compassionate legislation.

The initial introduction of the decriminalization bills received good coverage in the Vermont media. An excellent way for legislators to see that their constituents support H.150 and S.71 is to write a letter to the editor. Legislators constantly check the opinion pages of the local newspapers to see what people are saying. If you would like help writing a letter, please e-mail MPP at state@mpp.org.

Additionally, it will be important for the legislature to hear from people who have been negatively affected by the state's harsh marijuana laws. If you have been arrested for simple possession of a small amount of marijuana in Vermont, please e-mail state@mpp.org. If you are a lawyer, law enforcement official, or clergy member, or know someone who is, please e-mail state@mpp.org because you could be particularly influential in the lobbying effort.

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According to a January 2009 Mason-Dixon poll, 63 percent of Vermont voters support "a change in the law to provide for a $100 civil fine without jail time for those who possess an ounce or less of marijuana for personal use." In November 2008 Massachusetts voters passed a law similar to the one introduced in Vermont with 65 percent of the vote.

Additionally, the poll suggests that a plurality of Vermont voters would actually go much further in reforming the state's marijuana laws. Forty-nine percent of the respondents said they would favor "making marijuana legal for adults over 21, and regulating it similarly to alcohol," while only 37 percent said they would oppose the idea.

To stay updated on the status of marijuana policy reform in Vermont, be sure to subscribe to MPP's free alert service.

Although the registry fee has been reduced, it is still more than some patients can afford. Patients who receive SSI, SSDI, or Medicaid can apply for MPP to cover their registry ID fees.

If you have any further questions about the new law, you can contactMPP by e-mailing state@mpp.org.