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Environmental Integrity

In general, we feel our broader recommendations (from scale appropriate licensure, to outdoor production being regulated as agriculture, to testing and technical assistance) support a cannabis marketplace in Vermont which is set up to be as environmentally sound as possible. Our recommendations reduce unnecessary urban sprawl and materials and energy and water use (facilitating outdoor production and allowing for cultivation outside of “commercially” zoned areas), they reduce environmental impact by reducing overall scale and distributing impact vs. concentrating it, they advocate for comprehensive testing to assure no dangerous products are used in production, etc.

1. No Carbon Market trading or carbon offsets as part of Vermont’s cannabis program;

   a. Carbon Markets and Carbon Offsets do not support climate change mitigation and do not lessen pollution - rather allowing companies to pay in order to continue polluting. As we have seen in the PES and Climate Council realms in Vermont - there is little appetite or belief in the integrity of carbon markets in Vermont;

2. Product Packaging:

   a. There must be a reasonable balance between dosing amount / packaging and environmental concerns re: waste.