Speaking of alcohol, Vermont is one of the friendliest states in the nation when it comes to craft beer. You can even find growlers of top-quality, locally-brewed beer at gas stations.

LOL – when we had kids parties in Vermont my wife and I had to wear long sleeve shirts because the residual Marijuana on the kids friends would come off their body and into the air and cause our allergic reactions.

Yep – those mountain sides are filled with the sound of music – indeed Trapp Family Concerts in their farm fields would have cows coming over to listen.

Vermont is a magical place – I miss it – the thing it lacks is jobs – very very rural – about 1 cow per person in the state.

Well that’s nice for Vermont to think this way but the real problem is 0 and his pal holder. We found that out in Calif. and so did the state of Washington. States have no rights nor do the citizens.

So what.

VT is a hard cold place with nothing going for it except expats who invaded it and changed its culture bigtime.

The fine is still to high, pardon the pun. If the fine is 25 bucks the cops won’t even bother with the citation/ticket. It’s not worth their time. Now if the feds/Obama realized it’s not worth their time…and our tax dollars! When Puff learns to blow smoke rings and little Jackie Paper uses a glass pipe, eh?

Since many states (20-some) already treat simple possession as a minor violation like a traffic ticket, 63% is pathetically small, hardly overwhelming.

I stayed in a rental cottage overnight there, the owner of the estate collected antique steam engines that decorated (or littered) the grounds, and there was a maple sugar shack. The custodian gave us a sweet tour of the shack, explaining the process. I happen to love all diet-free food.

I might point out in ref to my first comment that VT has a pop of around 700,000. It is irrelevant.

Nice experience. Happy for you.

Irrelevant wrt any U.S. policy, not to denigrate your personal experience.

I spent lots of time in VT. Skiing, very close, now deceased close friend who also owned historic house. Doesn’t make me closer to VT on policy issues.

Also spent a couple of rainy Sundays (or is it sundaes) during the ski season at B&J.

In the interest of full disclosure, eCAHN is on the VT Board of Tourism.

“Welcome to Vermont. Now go home!”

forget ‘a small fine’.
complete decriminalization is the real answer; states should have no legal or tax stake in this whatsoever.
weed growers and smokers should not be filling state coffers or prisons.

You are sooo funny.

In the interest of full disclosure, it might be worth clarifying that your prior comment is complete snark.

Meeting this morning. Trying to figure out how much/way to forward info to you that would be useful without violating blah blah blah. May take a day or so to reach an executive decision.

LOL – yep – about 35-40% of the state feels “low landers” should leave so the state can get back to the basics of farming and tree craft and voting a libertarian conservative into office. Used to get my culture at the Barre Opera House – saw Brubeck etc there – otherwise small theater and small singing groups are everywhere, with a bit more in Burlington or for a 90 minute drive from there, in Montreal.

Expats change things as eCaHN noted, bringing fantastic skills but again there are no jobs – you have to invent one or have some saved money.

In the Northeast Kingdom there are two battery days because a single car battery will not start a car at 40 below zero. It is a fun adventure.

Thank you. OK, I admit number 11 was snark.

Expats were the historic preservationists of the east side of the Hudson river, while on my side (west) locals were willing to trash the land in fave of prop rights. Until Walmart tried to come in when us harem scarem weekenders with local environmentalists organized against.

Perhaps projecting on VT, though spent plenty of time there and knew many locals, so maybe not.

I think it’s the flat landers who want to keep the state working at farming and tree craft. They had money when they arrived. The native Vermonters would like them to leave so they can go back to selling their land to developers to make malls for Canadians who have money.

Also, there are plenty of jobs in VT. VT’s unemployment is well below the national average. Now if you want a paying job, things get more complicated.

Au contraire wrt US policy relevance: My entire voyage expense (NYC, all of NE but Maine, Quebec & reverse voyage) was partially advanced and fully reimbursed, thanks to my employer, you, and all our fellow taxpayers.

Not sure of your point. Are you snarking out of VTers for paying taxes to keep VT in biz, or what? Why do you think 700,000 peeps (or 63% of 700.000) are in any way relevant to USG policy wrt to mj, which iz the subject of this post.

My snark wrt anti-globalist lefties.

Want to continue to be able to see natives in local costumes as a tourism attraction, regardless of what those peeps would want for themselves.

I am no judge, just pointing out that us outsiders project our values on those who, ya know, actually live there who might agree or disagree.

I accept your reproach unconditionally, but it so happens that my initial posting on the thread was superpointed, and according to the firedoglake by-laws, once a member in good standing posts relevantly, that poster is entitled to invoke the rule of Special Orders.

Getting back to subject at hand, no one cares what VT thinks or does.

The end.

True – unless they get the waiver to use “exchange” subsidy money to go ahead with their single payer universal health -

if they get the waiver and implement single payer, they get very important.

Also important if they set precedent by forcing Vermont Yankee Nuke power plant to close.

But beyond that the crazy very left wing Warren 4th of July parade, Ben and Jerry, and skiing and hunting and climbing and Cabot co-op’s cheese and a bit of maple sugar are the only things of national interest. Heck the state capital has 8000 people and 3 (maybe 5 by now) traffic lights – not that important.

And all this time I thouoght grass was legal in VT. It seemed to be everywhere…and free. Fond memories of Hallifax Gorge.