Vermont becomes ninth state to legalize recreational pot
Vermont has become the ninth state to legalize recreational marijuana.
The new law went into effect on Sunday and allows users who are at least 21 years of age to possess up to 1 ounce of marijuana, in addition to two mature marijuana plants and four immature, or nonflowering, plants.
According to The Associated Press, the legislation does yet not detail how the production of the drug will be taxed or regulated. And because the law does not set up a system to do such for marijuana shops, users must either purchase the drug from illicit dealers or grow it themselves.
Under the new law, people are still barred from smoking the drug in public places and must have permission from their landlords to grow or use the plant at their homes if they are renters.
The decision arrives in the face of increasing opposition toward marijuana from the White House.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions, a staunch opponent of marijuana legalization, in January rolled back the so-called Cole memo, which ordered U.S. attorneys in states where the substance has been legalized to deprioritize prosecution of marijuana-related cases.
Medical marijuana is legal in more than two dozen states and recreational marijuana is legal in nine states and Washington, D.C.