Vermont is preparing to embark on a major overhaul of its struggling medical cannabis program, which has steadily lost registered patients since the state made it legal for people to grow weed at home in 2018.
The decrease has accelerated since late 2022, when stores selling cannabis legally to all adults began to open in Vermont. The medical program now counts 2,700 patients, down from a high of about 5,700.
Patients who live with one or more of about a dozen conditions recognized by the state can pay $50 for a medical card that's good for three years. They do not pay taxes on cannabis products, have access to higher-potency concentrates and other specialized items, and are allowed to exceed the one-ounce limit on a single purchase that applies to recreational buyers in Vermont. Medical cannabis dispensaries can also deliver their merchandise and bring it curbside to patients' vehicles, unlike shops in the recreational, or adult-use, market.
But there will be just two medical-only dispensaries left in the state — in Brandon and Montpelier — after a South Burlington dispensary, Ceres Collaborative, closes soon.
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