{"id":6128,"date":"2018-01-22T22:56:36","date_gmt":"2018-01-23T03:56:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lcpllutzlivetotell.org\/?p=6128"},"modified":"2019-08-08T12:47:18","modified_gmt":"2019-08-08T16:47:18","slug":"vermont-becomes-ninth-state-legalize-recreational-marijuana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lutzlivetotell.org\/?p=6128","title":{"rendered":"Vermont Becomes Ninth State to Legalize Recreational Marijuana"},"content":{"rendered":"

Vermont Becomes Ninth State to Legalize Recreational Marijuana<\/h4>\n
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By\u00a0SARAH GRAY<\/a><\/p>\n
January 22, 2018<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Vermont Gov. Phil Scott (R) signed the state\u2019s recreational marijuana bill into law on Monday with\u00a0\u201cmixed emotions.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

The law will allow people 21 and older to possess up to one ounce of marijuana and cultivate two plants, according to\u00a0The Hill<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

When the law takes effect on July 1, Vermont will be the ninth state, in addition to the District of Columbia, to legalize recreational marijuana. Colorado, Washington, Oregon, California, Alaska, and Nevada all permit recreational marijuana sales while Massachusetts and Maine will do so later this year.<\/p>\n

Vermont\u2019s law was the first recreational marijuana law to be passed by a state legislature. Unlike other states that legalized recreational marijuana, Vermont does not have a system of voter referendums.<\/p>\n

Vermont\u2019s legalization of the drug comes at a crossroads in the legalization push with California, on Jan. 1, becoming the largest state to allow recreational pot sales. Support among Americans for recreational marijuana legalization is at an all time high with 61% favoring legalization, according to a\u00a0Pew Research Center survey<\/a>\u00a0conducted in October 2017 and released this month.<\/p>\n

More independents and Democrats support legalization (65% and nearly 70% respectively), than Republicans (43%).<\/p>\n

Though some\u00a0Republican state lawmakers<\/a>\u00a0have endorsed recreational marijuana (and some House members), President Donald Trump\u2019s Attorney General Jeff Sessions opposes legalization on the federal level. Recreational pot vendors can therefore be prosecuted under\u00a0federal law<\/a>, even if permitted to sell under state law.<\/p>\n

Politicians in favor of decriminalizing marijuana cite not\u00a0only medicinal uses,<\/a>\u00a0but also\u00a0criminal justice reform.<\/a><\/p>\n

Retrieved from: http:\/\/fortune.com\/2018\/01\/22\/vermont-becomes-ninth-state-to-legalize-recreational-marijuana\/<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vermont Becomes Ninth State to Legalize Recreational Marijuana By\u00a0SARAH GRAY January 22, 2018 Vermont Gov. Phil Scott (R) signed the state\u2019s recreational marijuana bill into law on Monday with\u00a0\u201cmixed emotions.\u201d The law will allow people 21 and older to possess up to one ounce of marijuana and cultivate two plants, …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6130,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[617],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cannabis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lutzlivetotell.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6128","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lutzlivetotell.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lutzlivetotell.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lutzlivetotell.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lutzlivetotell.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6128"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lutzlivetotell.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6128\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lutzlivetotell.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lutzlivetotell.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lutzlivetotell.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lutzlivetotell.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}