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Without a Public Referendum, Legalizing Marijuana Is A Tall Order

Vermont Public | By Mitch Wertlieb,

Published April 13, 2017 at 12:50 PM EDT

Almost without exception, efforts to legalize marijuana in the U.S. involve citizens of an area making the choice for their elected officials by way of constitutional referendum. Vermont’s constitution doesn’t allow for that kind of ballot initiative approach.

There would have to change to the Vermont constitution to allow the general public legalize marijuana by way of a public referendum.

Listen to above to VPR's Peter Hirschfeld explain what happened with efforts to legalize marijuana this year and the challenges that legalization without public referendum raises.

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Mitch Wertlieb

A graduate of NYU with a Master's Degree in journalism, Mitch has more than 20 years experience in radio news. He got his start as news director at NYU's college station, and moved on to a news director (and part-time DJ position) for commercial radio station WMVY on Martha's Vineyard. But public radio was where Mitch wanted to be and he eventually moved on to Boston where he worked for six years in a number of different capacities at member station WBUR...as a Senior Producer, Editor, and fill-in co-host of the nationally distributed Here and Now. Mitch has been a guest host of the national NPR sports program "Only A Game". He's also worked as an editor and producer for international news coverage with Monitor Radio in Boston.

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Peter Hirschfeld

The Vermont Statehouse is often called the people’s house. I am your eyes and ears there. I keep a close eye on how legislation could affect your life; I also regularly speak to the people who write that legislation.

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