Advisory committee to "watch" state bill on possession limits as legalization petitions advance

At the Nov. 20 meeting, the Chair told the Cannabis Advisory Committee that a state house bill had been circulated that would double the legal amount of marijuana a person can possess. The Chair said the committee would "watch and see" whether it needed to take any action.

Committee member Jacques Simicki reported a separate petition campaign to legalize adult-use marijuana that he said had "something like over 75,000 signatures so far" and predicted the measure could appear on a November ballot. Members discussed market signals from other states, noting reported declines in retail sales volume in established adult-use markets and expressing uncertainty about underlying causes.

The committee did not adopt a position at the meeting. Members suggested monitoring both the legislative process and the petition campaign and said they would revisit the issue if definitive action or town-level impacts emerged.