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Patient advocates push for medical‑program overhaul, price controls and caregiver rule changes
Summary
Green Mountain Patient Alliance and allied advocates told the Agriculture Committee that Vermont’s medical cannabis program needs urgent reform to protect patients after a major dispensary closure, recommending administrative changes, price management and expanded caregiver rules.
Jessie Lynn Dolan, a registered nurse and co‑founder of the Green Mountain Patients Alliance, testified to the Agriculture Committee on Feb. 11, 2025 that Vermont’s medical cannabis program needs structural reforms to preserve access for patients.
Dolan told the committee the state’s medical program has few medical professionals involved and that the closure of a large medical dispensary — described in testimony as the result of bankruptcy — has made access more precarious for patients. “We have a medical cannabis program that has no medical professionals involved,” Dolan said, urging the Cannabis Control Board (CCB) to transfer administration of eligible conditions and oversight to the CCB and reestablish a medical cannabis advisory panel.
Dolan described her experience as a nurse and long‑term medical cannabis patient and caregiver and argued that affordable, locally available cannabis is essential to patient health. She noted that the adult‑use market’s growth has not been matched by patient‑focused policy and education: Dolan said she previously ran a free cannabis nurse hotline, which closed after a CCB policy change that she said prevented licensed medical professionals from working with adult‑use retailers.
The patient group’s recommendations included a price‑management approach that would keep medical transactions to a wholesale pricing structure tied to adult‑use product values; expansion of caregiver allowances (supporting caregivers for up to three patients and allowing patients up to three caregivers); increased plant counts for medical cultivation; and a public‑consumption policy that would allow non‑homeowners to consume where lit tobacco is allowed. GMPA also supported directing $1,000,000 of cannabis excise tax revenue to a Cannabis Business Development Fund and allocating 25% of excise tax revenue to the Land Access and Opportunity Board for community reinvestment.
Dolan asked for renewed emphasis on education for retailers serving medical patients, and said patient representation and clinical input should be restored into program governance. She offered to return for a fuller session and to provide technical detail, including statistical context on plant counts for medical consumers.
Committee members did not vote on reforms during the session; members invited advocates to return for additional hearings and follow‑up discussions.
