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 mirrors existing civil‑violation structure used for alcohol and moves cannabis possession into 7 VSA 6 56 (as drafted). He summarized the conduct covered by the new violation as someone who “knowingly and unlawfully possess[es] 1 ounce or less of cannabis or 5 grams or less of hashish or 2 mature cannabis plants or fewer or 4 immature cannabis plants.”

Dobrovsky and other committee members discussed the mental‑state element in the proposed language. Dobrovsky described the standard in the draft as requiring a showing that the person was ‘‘knowingly’’ in unlawful possession — a higher mental‑state threshold than strict liability offenses for alcohol. He used the example of someone holding a bag that might be oregano or cannabis: if they were aware of possessing a bag that could be cannabis, the knowing standard could apply, whereas purely accidental possession (for example, not knowing there was cannabis in a sibling’s backpack) would present a factual dispute.

Committee members pressed on practical effects. One senator asked whether the bill would leave some people who accidentally possess cannabis outside diversion; Dobrovsky said the mental‑state element creates a gap compared with strict‑liability alcohol offenses but that the cannabis provision as drafted is not a strict‑liability offense and therefore would not automatically criminalize negligent possession.

The draft also proposes repeals of two existing provisions that the drafter said previously produced delinquency referrals for younger youth. Dobrovsky said the repeal of 42‑30(j) would mean “there’s no more delinquency associated with cannabis possession” and that, under the amendment, such matters would be funneled through YSASP with civil violations applied if a youth fails to complete the program.

Committee members raised a related operational question: the bill currently includes a sentence limiting a person to a single citation under subsection a, a rule that originated when the offenses covered only alcohol. Several members asked how that provision should apply if an officer finds both alcohol and cannabis at the same incident. William Farrell of the Attorney General’s Office, court diversion and pretrial services, told the committee that in practice younger people who come in with both alcohol and cannabis often receive a single, health‑focused assessment, and clinicians generally tailor the conversation to the person’s use rather than require separate programs for each substance.

Members and staff discussed a compromise in which officers would issue a single notice of violation for the incident but court forms would capture which substances were present so clinicians and diversion staff would have the relevant information. Dobrovsky said language could be drafted requiring court administrator forms to indicate the presence of alcohol, cannabis, or both while retaining the single‑citation approach in statute.

No formal committee vote on the amendment was recorded in the session. Dobrovsky said the committee would revisit drafting details in the following days.