Cannabis Control Board backs S278 event pilot but warns delivery expansion needs fixes

The Cannabis Control Board told a legislative committee it supports several elements of S278, including higher milligram and possession limits and a limited pilot for cannabis event permits, but urged lawmakers to address key operational and public-safety details before expanding delivery and direct sales.

CCB General Counsel Gabe Gilman and board member Julie Hilberg said the bill’s sections 1–4 align Vermont with other states on product milligram equivalencies and possession limits and raised few regulatory concerns. Hilberg said the board "support[s] that" change and provided a state-by-state comparison and a "cannabis 101" briefing to the committee.

The board praised section 5, which would create a pilot cannabis-event permitting program modeled on the alcohol system and capped at 10 permits annually. Hilberg described the pilot as a "controlled experiment" that gives municipalities a "thorough hand" to tailor site-specific restrictions and requires organizers to contract licensed security when needed.

But Gilman and Hilberg warned that section 6, which would expand delivery to the adult-use market, is underdeveloped. "It just doesn't . . . really address some problems that would need to be addressed in order to have a viable system," Gilman said, citing unresolved issues including insurance, security, age verification, and how local-option sales taxes would be applied when deliveries cross municipal tax boundaries. "There's a real practical sales tax, for example, that would need to be addressed," he said.

Lawmakers pressed the board on how event permits would handle smoking versus vaping and the risk of impaired driving after events. Hilberg said permits could be drafted site-specific — for example, allowing only edibles or vaping, prohibiting burning flower, or stopping sales before an event ends — and that municipal partners and the CCB would likely set conditions appropriate to each venue. The board also noted that current roadside testing for cannabis is limited and that prosecuting drugged driving remains challenging.

CCB emphasized the bill builds in a testing and reporting cadence: the statute would authorize procedures before formal rulemaking, with rulemaking targeted by July 1, 2027 and a report to the Legislature by Nov. 25, 2027, enabling pilots to run and inform rules. The board encouraged lawmakers to use the pilot to surface public-safety and regulatory problems rather than assume a full-scale rollout.

The committee did not vote on S278 during the session; members said hearings and additional briefings, including fiscal analysis from the Joint Fiscal Office, will follow. The CCB indicated it will supply further technical materials and recommended statutory clarifications to minimize unintended consequences if the bill advances.