Vermont’s top law enforcement official moved to crack down on an emerging practice of “gifting” adult-use marijuana, saying the practice is illegal.
Some Vermont businesses have taken advantage of what they think is a loophole in the state’s new recreational law to deliver “free” marijuana.
Business owners told the Burlington Free Press they make their money through delivery fees ranging from $40 for an eighth of an ounce to $280 for a full ounce.
“Any transfer of marijuana for money, barter or other legal consideration remains illegal under Vermont law,” according to an advisory statement issued Monday by the office of Vermont Attorney General T.J. Donovan.
This includes “charging someone for the purported delivery of a marijuana gift,” according to the statement.
The state’s new adult-use law, which went into effect July 1, allows adults to possess up to 1 ounce of marijuana.
Anti-marijuana activists urged the state to crack down on businesses profiting from gifting, according to VTDigger.
The practice is hardly new.
In Maine, where adults can “gift” up to 2.5 ounces of cannabis to another adult, a number of businesses have cropped up.
Some, in fact, have sold items unrelated to cannabis, such as T-shirts or soft drinks, at inflated prices and included “free” marijuana with the sales.
