How cannabis growers want Vermont’s budding industry to take shape

WINOOSKI, Vt. (WCAX) - What’s the best business model for legal weed? The Vermont Growers Association unveiled principles they hope will help create a world-class industry in the Green Mountain State.

Vermont’s legal cannabis market has been open now for just over a year. As it evolves, the Vermont Growers Association hopes to outline the guiding principles for the future of the market.

“We kind of hold our pride to doing this the right way,” said Dusty Kenney of the Cambridge Cannabis Company.

They hope the principles will create the most economically viable industry possible. They touch on issues like racial justice, fair practices in pricing, helping those harmed by the criminalization of cannabis and supporting the medical market.

It also puts special emphasis on supporting the small, local growers in Vermont, something the Cannabis Retailers Association of Vermont supports, as well.

“I think that one of the things that makes Vermont special is our access to so many small cultivators and manufacturers and retailers, and this is really one of the things that makes it great here,” said Colleen McQuade of the Cannabis Retailers Association of Vermont.

Ultimately, they hope these tenets will help catapult Vermont cannabis to be a hallmark of the state, like how Vermont’s craft beer and cheese are viewed nationwide.

“We want to have that public conversation and raise awareness about what we believe is viable tenets to arrive at the type of market that we want, and if anything, try to attract people from that conversation,” said Geoffrey Pizzutillo of the Vermont Growers Association.

Vermont’s Cannabis Control Board says these principles are squarely in line with their own strategic vision for the future of the cannabis industry, especially the focus on small, locally produced craft products.

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