Rural Vermont and Coalition Partners say Racial Justice and Economic Equity Missing from S.54

Rural Vermont has teamed up with a coalition of racial justice and grower organizations to oppose S.54, the Vermont Cannabis Tax and Regulate Bill. We call on Vermont’s legislature to reject S.54 and commit to working with our organizations, communities of color, and small farms and businesses across Vermont to develop legislation creating a tax and regulate system in our state which sets a new standard for equity, reparations, inclusivity and representation.

Rural Vermont’s Policy Director, Graham Unangst-Rufenacht, says:

“It is critical that we not allow this global medical and economic crisis to serve as justification for supporting a fundamentally inadequate and inequitable bill which will further amplify existing racial, economic, and social inequities in Vermont.  We have the opportunity now to reject S.54 and to commit to engaging with a diversity of stakeholders to create a legal cannabis market in Vermont which is founded in racial justice, and agricultural and economic equity and opportunity.  We are being asked to support S.54 based on the potential revenue this new market could bring to Vermont.  We must in turn ask: ‘who will have access to, and agency and privileges within, this market?  Who will share in and benefit from the revenues?  Who were the stakeholders in determining this?’"   

Read the full story and press release here, and take action today!

Update - Read the Coalition’s 9/16/20 press release here and view the press conference here.