We can understand why some people might be persuaded that Senator Jeanette White supported cannabis legalization in the last session while Senator Becca Balint opposed it.
But the truth is that Senator White supported and voted in favor of a bill regulating cannabis. And there is a profound difference between regulation and legalization.
Senator White promoted a regulation bill with cultivation licenses limited to a few well-funded and well-connected industrial growers.
The bill was loaded with pork, mandating that the Department of Public Safety both write and enforce rules from which they would receive 25 percent of the taxes for enforcement.
Worst of all, the bill contained onerous fines and jail time for Vermonters who wished to cultivate their own home grown for their own use.
Senator Becca Balint voted against this bad bill. This was a courageous decision considering the intimidation she received from Governor Peter Shumlin, Senator Richard Sears, and others, to toe the line.
Senator Balint understood that any scheme designed to enrich a few while persecuting Vermonters was wrong and had the integrity to stand against it.
We know from personal experience with Vermont's medical cannabis system that it is very difficult to change a bad bill.
For years, we have petitioned Senator White to initiate improvements, but she has not taken action. While our veterans have been asking for years to allow PTSD as a condition to be treated under the current law, the list of qualifying conditions remains prohibitively short. And needy patients continue to be limited to growing only two mature plants.
David Schoales is running for senate in Windham County. He supports the right of all adult Vermonters to grow 100 square feet of cannabis without registration. He believes Vermonters should be able to keep and use the cannabis they grow.
Like Becca Balint, he is deeply suspicious of any regulatory scheme that would put money in the pockets of a few while putting Vermonters in jail.
We urge you to re-elect Senator Becca Balint and to send David Schoales to the Senate.