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Vermont Governor Signs Bill To Double Legal Marijuana Possession Limit And Allow Interstate Commerce

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The governor of Vermont has signed the legislation allow adults over 21 to legally possess twice as much marijuana as they did before, enable interstate commerce in cannabis and make other changes to the rules for licensed businesses.

Gov. Phil Scott (R) announced Friday that he approved the large-scale cannabis reform bill, S. 278, which passed both houses of the legislature last month.

One of the major effects of the new law on consumers is that it doubles the prior possession limit to two ounces of marijuana or 10 grams of hashish.

The legislation, sponsored by Sen. Kesha Ram Hinsdale (D), also allows the governor to enter into treaties with other states for the cross-border trade of cannabis.

The legislative text states that there is a “changing federal position on regulated cannabis markets” and that it is “the intent of the General Assembly” to provide for the possibility of regional or interstate cannabis markets.

A provision states that such agreements can only go forward if federal law is changed to allow the transfer of cannabis between states, if a federal law is enacted blocking the use of agency funds to prevent such transfers, if the U.S. Department of Justice publishes a notice endorsing or approving such activity, or if the state’s attorney general certifies that administrative risk based on interstate marijuana court agreements will not result in administrative risk based on judicial decisions based on administrative review.

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The invoice signed The governor also creates a pilot program for cannabis events, in which businesses can sell products but the consumption of cannabis would not be allowed.

The legislation also states that residential leases cannot prohibit tenants from “possessing cannabis or cannabis products on the rental premises or using cannabis or cannabis products in a housing unit, except that a rental agreement may prohibit the use of light cannabis for inhalation or the use of cannabis products on the rental premises.”

It also eliminates the vertically integrated type of license and lowers licensing fees for cannabis cultivation companies, among other technical changes to the current statute.

Earlier versions of the bill would have changed potency restrictions on cannabis products, reduced taxes and allowed local consumption licenses and delivery services, but those provisions were removed during the legislative process before final passage.

In 2018, Scott they signed a bill to legalize marijuana possession and home cultivation and then after permission legislation to legalize the commercial sale of cannabis enter into force without his signature in 2020.

Photo by Mike Latimer.

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Australia funds major hemp processing projects in NSW’s Murray-Darling Basin

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June 21, 2026

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Two regional New South Wales hemp industries have secured AU$10 million in government grants to build processing facilities, as part of a wider $69 million funding round supporting 14 projects in the southern Murray-Darling Basin.

Ausuntech Pty Ltd, the company behind Carrathool agglomeration Gundaline — a 14,916-hectare property owned by Chinese company Zhejiang Sunrise Garment Group — will use its funding to build what is being described as Australia’s first large-scale hemp processing plant. The facility is still awaiting NSW planning approval following a public consultation period that closed in March. According to planning documents prepared by SKM Planning, the plant would annually process 20,000 tonnes of raw hemp into 4,000 tonnes of fibre, all from hemp grown on the Gundaline property. The processed fiber would be carded and exported to China, where it would be spun and woven into clothing materials.

Meanwhile, Murray Industrial Hemp (MIH), based in Barham, received match funding to set up a facility producing low-carbon hemp concrete blocks for sustainable housing. The project will renovate a former redgum sawmill site with the installation of de-corking equipment to convert hemp bales into nuts, fiber and fines, along with a hemp brick manufacturing line. MIH Executive Director Leigh Fletcher said the funding is a major boost to the region’s emerging industrial hemp sector, citing hemp’s water efficiency as a crop and its thermal and fire-retardant properties as a building material.

The Sustainable Communities Program, jointly funded by the federal and NSW governments, aims to help communities in the Murray-Darling Basin economically diversify as water recovery efforts progress. NSW Agriculture Minister Tara Moriarty and federal Water Minister Murray Watt framed the investments as support for regional jobs and resilience amid ongoing water policy adjustments in the Basin.

Read more at Central Grain










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DEA begins on-site inspections at Mississippi dispensaries registered under rescheduling process

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June 20, 2026

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The Drug Enforcement Administration has begun conducting inspections of Mississippi marijuana dispensaries registered for federal protections during the Trump administration’s cannabis rescheduling process, the Mississippi Medical Marihuana Association (3MA) confirmed to Marihuana Moment last week.

Henry Crisler, director of 3MA, says two member dispensaries have received visits from federal officials after filling out the DEA’s registration form for medical marijuana dispensaries. “They were told they were among the first in the country to visit,” says Crisler. “Both dispensaries were visited by 5-6 delegates, and the overall tone was collaborative/inquiry.” He adds, “The DEA seems to be taking a very slow/curious approach to the whole deal. They had a lot of questions about general practices.”

David Fowler, owner of High Street Dispensary in Jackson, Mississippi, said DEA agents spent about six hours at his facility. The officials were “very kind” and “didn’t come across as mean,” he says. “I’m not threatened. It’s just another set of eyes and ears, except at the federal level, it’s really no different at the state level.” Fowler describes the stakeholders as “new to this process as well”, approaching the visit with a “we will work together” attitude. “Overall, I think it will be very beneficial for us as a business to be able to get the tax breaks that we need to be successful, just like any other business,” says III.

Legally Rooted in Meridian also received a visit from the DEA, according to 3MA. Crisler says agents asked both dispensaries for documentation during the visits without providing a full list beforehand. Items requested include license transfer records, ownership information, including Social Security numbers, complete inventory lists, vendor lists, employee records, security plans, and METRC purchase history.

The DEA launched the initial registration form for dispensaries in April after Acting Attorney General Blanche announced that state licensed medical marijuana products under Title III of the Controlled Substances Act. A broader reorganization hearing will begin later this month, and the DEA says it will soon release registration forms for additional types of businesses, including manufacturers, distributors and laboratories.

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DEA Judge Issues Order Laying Out Process For Marijuana Rescheduling Hearing Starting This Month

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June 20, 2026

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A Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) judge has issued an initial order that establishes ground rules for a Hear about the Trump administration’s cannabis reorganization process it will start this month.

Chief Administrative Law Judge Derek Julius signed the 12-page order Thursday, setting initial deadlines for named parties to participate, which is under a separate. The DEA’s announcement this week features only opponents of cannabis reform.

Julius noted that the government, “as the sponsor of the proposed rule, bears the burden of proof” regarding Title III marijuana. Officials will have to submit the notice of government representatives’ appearances before Monday, he said.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche in April He issued an order that immediately reclassified the state’s licensed medical cannabisas well as marijuana products approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under Schedule I through Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).

According to a separate order signed by the acting Attorney General, in the upcoming hearing, marijuana III.

“Importantly, the scope of this hearing is not to discuss the rescheduling of FDA-approved medical products containing marijuana, and the rescheduling of medicinal marijuana products already regulated by states, which has already occurred,” the ALJ said in the new order. “Accordingly, no evidence or testimony will be received on that matter. The narrow issue in this matter is the rest of marijuana, as defined in the CSA, from its place in Schedule I to Schedule III of the list of controlled substances.

The hearing will be held at a DEA facility in Arlington, Virginia, and will begin June 29 and run through July 15, Julius said. The representatives of the appointed parties must be present, while the witnesses called must be present or via video conference.

The proceedings “will not be televised, live streamed or broadcast in any way”, the judge said, although citizens may attend due to “the national public interest of this matter”.

“Except for the function of a court reporter, permission to use video or audio recording devices at any time while inside the courtroom or adjacent lobby is expressly waived,” Julius wrote.

The order establishes a process for how each participant will present its case and for the government and stakeholders to cross-examine each other:

  • Each named party will have one day in which to present its case-in-chief.
  • Each named party will be given fifteen (15) minutes to make an opening statement. Opening statements will be made at the beginning of the Designated Party’s case-in-chief.
  • Each named party may present a maximum of two (2) witnesses. Each witness may testify in direct examination for no more than two (2) hours. If a named party elects to present only one witness, that witness may testify on direct examination for up to four (4) hours.
  • Each interested party may cross-examine (each) the Government’s witnesses for more than one (1) hour. The government may cross-examine each interested witness for more than one (1) hour. At the conclusion of the cross-examination of a particular witness, the calling party may redirect the witness for more than one (1) hour. Interested parties may not cross-examine each other’s witnesses.
  • Named Parties will not be allowed to see the proposed expert witnesses before they testify. All expert decisions will be made after a hearing and objections to expert qualifications must be made in writing.
  • Witnesses may not be in the courtroom before or after testifying.
  • Objections to the evidence or testimony will be heard during the hearing and must be made orally. At the time of presentation, the lawyer will mention the rule of his objection and the reason for the objection, the supporting evidence or testimony can respond briefly, I will decide on the objection and the hearing will continue without further discussion. See 21 CFR § 1316.60.
  • Rebuttal testimony, if any, will be limited. The undersigned will make decisions on rebuttal testimony at the hearing as they arise.
  • No time will be allowed for closing arguments. Each party will be given an opportunity to file post-hearing briefs in accordance with 21 CFR § 1316.64 21. Further instructions regarding this will be provided at the conclusion of the hearing.
  • Unless otherwise noted, designated parties may not spend more time in one area in exchange for more time in another area (eg, a party may not refuse a redirect in exchange for more of their live time).
  • Only one representative of a designated Party may apply to the court at a time.

“Using the information provided by the designated parties … no later than June 24, 2026, this court will issue a detailed hearing schedule, specifying the time each party will present its case, in a subsequent order,” the ALJ. he saidand he added that on the same day the named parties “must submit a short statement for hearing, which will not exceed twenty-five (25) pages”.

The next day, they will “exchange the proposed exhibits with each other and present the annotated and proposed exhibits,” Julius promised.

Pursuant to previous action by DEA Administrator Terrance Cole, the participants invited to the hearing are:

  • Drug and Alcohol Screening Association (NDASA)
  • Tennessee Bureau of Investigation
  • Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM)
  • The states of Nebraska, Idaho, Indiana and Louisiana
  • Voice of the Victims
  • Kenneth Finn, MD
  • Phillip A. Drum, PharmD

All organizations, individuals and officials have come out against marijuana reform, and some have filed lawsuits specifically trying to block cannabis reform.

Supporters of the reform who have expressed their intention to participate have not been invited.

According to several rejection letters seen by Marijuana Moment from cannabis reform advocates, the DEA said they do not meet the definition of “interested person” to participate because they “would not be harmed or harmed by any rule or proposed rule that may be issued.”

In a letter to the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA), Cole wrote that the agency has “concluded that you have not demonstrated that you are harmed or harmed by the promulgation of a proposed rule to transfer marijuana, 21 CFR 1308.11(d)(23), marijuana extracts, (511)281 CFR 11, (3801) and 21 CFR 1308.11(d)(23). naturally derived delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinols from Schedules I through III of the CSA, as proposed in the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM).

“In fact, you state that the DPA supports the removal of marijuana from Schedule I and ‘does not object’ to the transfer of marijuana to Schedule III. Furthermore, the DPA states that any harm it would suffer from the NPRM would be to schedule marijuana in Schedule III. Because the DPA has not sufficiently demonstrated that the proposed rule itself is harmed or harmed, the DEA concludes that the DPA is not an “interested person.”

“Accordingly, the DEA is denying your request to participate in the hearing,” Cole told DPA.

In order to be considered for participation in the hearing, the parties had to submit requests, indicating their interest in the procedure, the claims or issues they want to hear and their position on these issues.

“The purpose of the hearing is to ‘receive factual evidence and expert opinion’ on whether marijuana should be transferred to Schedule III of the controlled substance list,” Blanche’s initial statement in April said.

The attorney general will also select an administrative law judge (ALJ) to oversee the proceeding.

“The ALJ’s authority includes the power to hold conferences to simplify or determine the issues at the hearing or to consider other matters that may assist in the expeditious resolution of the hearing; to require the parties to state their position in writing; to sign and issue subpoenas; to compel the production of documents and materials to the extent necessary to conduct the hearing; to examine witnesses; to direct, exclude, or testify; the Rule on Procedural Matters and the President’s DEA Hearing Procedures and Administrative Procedure Actions allowed under the law, Blanch wrote.

Preliminary hearing process on the marijuana redistricting process initiated by the Biden administration It was halted last year amid allegations of improper communications and witness selection.

the current The marijuana redistricting process is being challenged in several ways which have been upheld by a federal Court of Appeals. those pieces of State attorneys general have filed lawsuits against cannabis reform, Opponents of marijuana legalization and a a cannabis-based biopharmaceutical corporation.

Meanwhile, the reorganization of state-licensed medical cannabis is already having a major impact.

The Congressional Research Service published a report on the current rescheduling of cannabis Certified patients with medical marijuana from state licensed dispensaries are now eligible for Class III. “The order appears to allow end users to use marijuana medically without a CSA prescription,” he says.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) has published a Draft update to a gun purchase form to recognize the legal status of medical marijuana in the reprogramming. The revised section of the question states that only the “recreational use or possession of marijuana” is federally prohibited, omitting the prior form’s mention of medical cannabis.

The US Treasury and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) said they plan to issued new tax guidelines for the marijuana industry after reprogramming. The reform will benefit state-licensed marijuana businesses by allowing them to take federal tax deductions that are currently prohibited under IRS Code Section III, known as Section 280E.

Even the DEA, which has long opposed cannabis legalization and accused the Biden administration of stalling the initiative in the reorganization process, has done so. It launched a registration process for legal marijuana businesses in the state to take advantage of the federal benefits that come with the reform.

The Department of Transport, on the other hand, issued guidelines stating this use Legal medical cannabis in the state is still no excuse for truck drivers to test positive for drugspilots and other safety-sensitive personnel.

A congressional committee recently Federal officials voted to block further steps to reschedule cannabis.

Photo elements courtesy of the user rawpixel and Philip Steffan.

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