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Vermont Begins Legal Pot Business Licensing Process

The state is now taking applications for all aspects of the legal Cannabis industry, including sales and cultivation.

Vermont has begun accepting applications for adult-use retail sales licenses. While regulators originally anticipated opening the application window in September, the date was moved up to August 1 in order to prepare for the state’s self-appointed deadline for the launch of retail sales on October 1, 2022.

While the state first legalized Cannabis in 2018, that law only allowed for the possession of pot as the legislation did not include a retail sales component. However, the state revised its legalization law in 2020 to include a tax and regulate program and has been working toward implementing standalone adult-use retail sales.

Vermont is now taking applications for all aspects of the legal Cannabis industry, including retail sales, cultivation, processing and manufacturing, and even testing laboratories. 

The state’s Cannabis Control Board (CCB), which oversees the industry in Vermont, opened up the application window for cultivation licenses back in April in order to ramp up the necessary supply for the fall 2022 retail sales launch date. The CCB received hundreds of applications from growers at the time and initially selected eight companies for cultivation licenses

All eight of the businesses awarded licenses from the state were social equity applicants – Vermont’s Cannabis law requires that priority be given to social equity applicants in the licensing process. After considering equity applicants, the board must then give priority to outdoor growers.

Two testing laboratories, Bia Diagnostics and Steep Hill Labs, were awarded licenses earlier this summer.

To date, Vermont regulators have approved over 200 companies for Cannabis industry licenses through their pre-qualification process, approximately 50 of which are retail shops. 

“We’ve been laser focused on getting applications out the door because you can’t just rely on Cannabis grown out of state to meet demand … We need to build the supply chain in Vermont,” CCB Chair James Pepper said.

So far, nearly 70 Vermont municipalities have opted-in to the legal Cannabis industry and will allow retail locations in their jurisdictions.

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