Live in Montpelier? A chance to vote for a sane marijuana policy

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On tomorrow's City Meeting ballot:

ARTICLE 16. Shall the City of Montpelier vote on a non-binding resolution that states: “The voters of the City of Montpelier advise the Vermont Legislature to pass a bill to replace criminal penalties with a civil fine for adults who possess a small amount of marijuana”. (By Petition) 

The story also made the front page of today's Free Press:

The ballot item is the result of a petition drive led by the Vermont Alliance for Intelligent Drug Laws, which is lobbying for decriminalization statewide. Group founder Nancy Lynch said she, a volunteer from Burlington and two Montpelier residents went door to door and quickly collected nearly 500 signatures. People were overwhelmingly supportive, said Lynch, a Williamstown resident.

A yes vote would send lawmakers a message that there is significant public support for decriminalization, Lynch said. Current law creates criminals out of nonviolent offenders and costs the state millions in courts and corrections money. Decriminalization would be “a no-brainer,” said Lynch, executive director of the Burlington Peace and Justice Center.

As someone with a healthy respect for the intelligence and good sense of my fellow Montpelier voters, I think the chances for passage are excellent.

3 thoughts on “Live in Montpelier? A chance to vote for a sane marijuana policy”

  1. is an example of the worst kind of public policy coming from the worst kind of lawmaking.

    We are denied the right to grow one of the most, if not the most, versatile crops in the history of the world (hemp); and we are literally attacked by our government for using a medicine that is medically efficacious certainly in palliative needs and science strongly suggests curative with certain diseases … medicine that can be grown for literally pennies a pound in your backyard.

    All this happens to keep folks from smoking pot in the privacy of their own lives.

    So now the quiz …. out of the three above mentioned uses of the cannabis plant, which one is the most prevalent?

  3. I heard that it passed too by a thoroughly overwhelming majority. At last, some kind of sanity has shined through.

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