Vermont Senate committee unanimously passes medical marijuana improvement bill!

The Senate Health and Welfare Committee voted 6-0 this afternoon in favor of S.7, the medical marijuana improvement bill. The bill now heads to the Senate floor for a full Senate vote. This vote could occur as early as Friday! Please take a moment to call your senator and urge him or her to vote in favor of S.7.

To get in touch with your senator, call the Vermont State House switchboard operator at (802) 828-2228, but only between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., and ask to speak to your senator. If you don't know who your senator is, you can click here to find out.

Remember to be polite and courteous when speaking to the senator or staff member. If no one is there, please leave a message, including your name and address so your senator knows that you're a constituent. Your message can be simple: "Please vote in favor of S.7, the medical marijuana improvement bill. Thank you."

Please e-mail me at zane@mpp.org to let me know of any feedback your senator gives you.

S.7 is sponsored by Sens. Dick Sears (D-Bennington), John Campbell (D-Windsor), Ed Flanagan (D-Chittenden), and Jeanette White (D-Windham). If you live in the district of any of these senators, please call to thank them for sponsoring this compassionate and sensible legislation.

Vermont's law is currently the most restrictive, both in terms of qualifying conditions and amount of medical marijuana plants patients can cultivate. S.7 will improve Vermont's current medical marijuana law by adding serious conditions that cause severe or chronic pain, nausea, wasting, or seizures. It will also increase the number of plants that registered patients are allowed to grow to four mature plants and 10 immature plants.

If you have not already done so, please also take a moment to write a letter to the editor of your local papers. It's vital for state legislators to see examples of the widespread, statewide support this sensible legislation enjoys.

Thank you for supporting the Marijuana Policy Project. Please pass this message along to your friends and family in Vermont so that others can stand up for the state's most vulnerable residents.