Vermont hits pause on some marijuana permits, including retail

In a bid to avoid oversaturation of the state market, Vermont cannabis regulators this week voted to hit pause on new retail dispensary applications as of Oct. 25. The board made the determination that the 78 stores already open are apparently enough to satisfy demand.

The pause will only be temporary, VTDigger reported, and comes barely two years after the recreational cannabis market launched. However, the state Cannabis Control Board members have not yet settled on a date for when new licenses may become available again.

Similarly, the board also voted to halt accepting some – but not all – cultivation permits, VTDigger reported. The new restrictions only apply to small-scale growers with 2,500 square feet of canopy or less, but not to the smallest grow permit available, which is for those with 1,000 square feet of canopy or less.

CCB Chair James Pepper told VTDigger that the move was in response to the “a really unnatural distribution” of dispensary locations around the state, given that about 70% of municipalities have prohibited retail marijuana shops.

This year, the state legislature approved a bill mandating that the CCB take action to improve the geographic diversity for dispensaries to better ensure there aren’t clusters of marijuana shops in the cities that have opted in. The new law requires the agency to consider new rules “based on population and market needs.” Those rules are still forthcoming.

There are also still more licensed cannabis shops in the works that have been licensed but haven’t opened yet, VTDigger reported. CCB members expressed concern that some may rush to open in pro-cannabis cities like Burlington, potentially exacerbating the very problem they’re now tasked with solving: dispensary saturation.

License applications that are already being reviewed will also be given a slight extension of three weeks past the Oct. 25 deadline, VTDigger noted. That cohort includes 21 would-be retailers.