Seven more applicants were approved for recreational cannabis licenses this week as Vermont prepares for the start of retail sales to adults in October.

To date, 208 applications have been submitted, according to the Cannabis Control Board, which regulates all cannabis businesses in Vermont. Recreational licenses will allow businesses to grow, manufacture, test and sell cannabis to adults 21 years or older for recreational use. 

All seven applicants were social equity or economic empowerment applicants. The board awarded the first license to a social equity applicant last week.

The board is required to consider license applications from social equity or economic empowerment applicants first. Once it has ruled on those applicants, the next group will be applicants who plan to grow plants outdoors this summer, said James Pepper, the chair of the board.

“We hear the urgency on outdoors,” Pepper said, adding that the board’s executive director, Brynn Hare, is interviewing potential staff members to process the licenses. 

Pepper told VTDigger the board is likely to review the next round of applications next week.

“Essentially, we are trying to balance the need to get these outdoor cultivators licensed ASAP with the need to be transparent about who we are licensing,” Pepper said.

Vermont legalized possession and limited cultivation of cannabis in 2018. Until this year, only medical dispensaries could sell cannabis. That changes on Oct. 1, when the adult-use retailers will be allowed to open shops.

The seven businesses to receive licenses Tuesday are Arcadia Cannabis Company, an indoor cultivator in Essex; Snowbird Botanicals, a small indoor and outdoor cultivator in Barnet; Epona Farms, which is planning indoor cultivation in Salisbury; Family Tree, which is planning indoor and outdoor cultivation in Sheldon; Great Brook Homestead, a small outdoor cultivator in Middlesex; Valley Organics, a small indoor cultivator in Jeffersonville; and DP Holdings/VT Cannabis Organics, a small indoor/outdoor cultivator in Danville. 

The state’s first license was granted last week to Clarence Chamorro, owner of Rutland Craft Cannabis in Brandon. Chamorro said in an email to VTDigger that he plans to grow cannabis indoors and sell pre-rolled joints and cannabis flower to retailers in Vermont.

“I am very happy to have received the first cannabis license in Vermont,” said Chamorro, who said he grew up in Nicaragua.

Did you know VTDigger is a nonprofit?

Our journalism is made possible by member donations. If you value what we do, please contribute and help keep this vital resource accessible to all.