Treogfyrre cannabisplanter voksede ud af vermont statshus blomsterbede. ingen gjorde krav på dem
MONTPELIER, VERMONT - A visitor walking the Statehouse grounds spotted something that did not belong in the formal flower beds: cannabis. Capitol Police pulled 32 immature plants on a Monday in July 2019, then two more in the following days. Thirty-four in all, mixed into the cultivated blooms lining the walkway in front of the Montpelier building.
Chief Matthew Romei was fairly sure the plants were not on Buildings and General Services’ landscaping plan. Workers who tend those beds may have found still more. He would not test them. Without a lab, nobody could say whether the crop was hemp (0.3% THC or less) or marijuana (above that line), and he had no interest in making a criminal case. "Vi kan kun lave en straffesag, hvis nogen siger:" Han sagde.
Vermont had already become the first state to legalize recreational marijuana through its legislature rather than a ballot measure, in 2018. Adults 21 and older could possess up to an ounce and keep two mature and four immature plants at home. Growing it in public was still illegal. Hemp farmers could plant for income. The Statehouse lawn satisfied none of those rules.
Romei var ikke overrasket over planterne trivedes. "Du kunne plante et 2-by-4 stykke tømmer derinde, og det ville vokse til et palmetræ. Så det er absolut ikke overraskende, at hvis nogen ville sætte nogle marihuana frø derinde, ville de vokse som ukrudt". Lignende planter var dukket op i haven før hans to år som chef, men dette var hans første. "Det var en sjov ting at komme tilbage til fra ferie". Ingen har nogensinde gjort krav på dem.
Commercial cannabis sales in Vermont began on October 1, 2022, once licenses went out under the regulated market the legislature built after that 2018 possession law. The flower beds in front of the Statehouse are still not a licensed canopy. The 0.3% hemp-versus-marijuana line that Romei declined to test is itself being rewritten at the federal level: P.L. 119-37’s total-THC hemp language takes effect November 12, 2026, which will pull a lot of “hemp” products back under controlled-substance math.
Relateret fra organisationen alliance: den amerikanske regerings cannabispatent, Den Florida mand, der uddelte gratis marihuana fordi det var jul, og Mærkelige nyheder.
Fotos: Matthew Romei, Vermont Capitol politi
