The Vermont Legislature [official website] on Wednesday voted to approve [materials] recreational use of marijuana. The bill was amended [text] by the house to permit the recreational use of marijuana in small quantities. The law would create a legal system to regulate the use and sale of the drug, but would still make possession over an ounce a criminal offense.

It is the intent of the General Assembly to eliminate all penalties for possession of one ounce or less of marijuana and two mature and four immature marijuana plants for a person who is 21 years of age or older while retaining criminal penalties for possession, dispensing and sale of larger amounts of marijuana. This act also retains civil penalties for possession of marijuana by a person under 21 years of age, which are the same as for possession of alcohol by a person under 21 years of age.

The bill now awaits the Governor’s signature.

Legalization measures are becoming a global priority. The Mexican Chamber of Deputies approved [JURIST report] a bill in April allowing the use, production and distribution of marijuana for medical and scientific purposes. Also in April Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker signed Senate Bill 10 [JURIST report], legalizing the medicinal use of a marijuana extract, into law. An anonymous Canadian government official in March announced [JURIST report] the country’s intention to legalize recreational marijuana by July 2018. The lower house of the Dutch parliament in February voted [JURIST report] 77-72 to approve a bill [text, in Dutch] that would tolerate the cultivation of cannabis.