Senate Judiciary panel considers adding cannabis possession to youth diversion program in H.105

A Senate Judiciary Committee meeting on April 29 considered draft 1.1 of a strike‑all amendment to H.105 that would add possession of small amounts of cannabis to the Youth Substance Awareness Safety Program (YSASP) referral process instead of sending eligible youth through the delinquency or court diversion systems.

Lisa Pepe, youth restorative services coordinator at the Burlington Community Justice Center, told the committee that expanding cannabis referrals into YSASP would let officers refer youth “so we can take immediate steps in order to ensure that the youth is receiving the best care in a timely fashion.” She described two cases she handled to illustrate the difference in timelines: a court diversion case that she said took eight months from incident to finish, and a YSASP referral she said was completed in less than two months with “meaningful changes to their substance use.”

The amendment’s drafter, Ben Dobrovsky of the Office of Legislative Council, told the committee the language being added…