On Wednesday, May 28, 2025, the Cannabis Control Board held its monthly meeting, during which it approved four (4) initial licenses and twenty-eight (28) license renewals. Representatives from the Agency of Commerce and Community Development attended to provide an update on the Cannabis Business Development Fund, and the Board held discussions on various issues. As reported by the CCB, there are currently 625 active licenses.

The Vermont Cannabis Control Board Meeting on May 28, 2025.

“Tim Tierney began the ACCD’s presentation by addressing the lack of action taken by legislators this session to fund the CBDF for 2026 by noting that the fund currently has over $615,000 and the agency will have enough capital to provide beneficiary payments throughout the next year to every Social Equity licensee and that they can even explore using the remaining funds to expand technical support programming with the Vermont State University.”

Meeting Overview

In opening remarks on Wednesday, May 28, 2025, Board meeting, Chair Pepper mentioned that the Board had sent its proposed changes to its administrative rules to the Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules (LCAR) for approval, which are likely to be adopted in June. In the rules update, the Chair mentioned that the Medical-Use Endorsement (MUE) rules are in the proposed changes sent to LCAR, a statutory requirement for the MUE is expanded training for a budtender and that the Board will be offering free training beginning around July 1, 2025, in anticipation of the new retailer license becoming available later this year.

After opening remarks, Executive Director Fitch presented the monthly Executive Director report by announcing an upcoming CCB Peer Networking event with the Agency of Agriculture Food and Markets to discuss weights and measures inspections, taking place on June 18, 2025, then went into current market data and initial licensure and renewals. Below are some noteworthy data sets from this month's Executive Director report:

There are 625 active total licenses;
408 active total Cultivators, down 8 licensees from last month;
2 Integrated;
94 Manufacturers;
110 Retailers;
2 Testing Labs;
8 Wholesalers;
1 Propagator, and;
372 Standard licensees, 156 Economic Empowerment licensees, and 97 Social Equity licensees.

Following the Executive Director report, Tim Tierney and Nate Davidson from the Agency of Commerce and Community Development (ACCD) presented the current state of affairs with the Cannabis Development Fund (CBDF), with the Chair beginning the discussion by noting that this legislature did not allocate funding this year for the CBDF, which it has done every year since the establishment of the fund, and despite the CCB having developed recommendations from Act 166 (2024) Section 15a Equity Legislative Report before the start of this legislative session.

Tim Tierney began the ACCD’s presentation by addressing the lack of action taken by legislators this session to fund the CBDF for 2026 by noting that the fund currently has over $615,000 and the agency will have enough capital to provide beneficiary payments throughout the next year to every Social Equity licensee and that they can even explore using the remaining funds to expand technical support programming with the Vermont State University. Both the Chair and the ACCD expressed that there is a strong desire to enact base funding in perpetuity and hope to do so in the next session.

Nate and Tim concluded the presentation by presenting data on the CBDF. They highlighted that there have been three appropriations, observed a reduced demand for Roads Consulting each year, that beneficiary payments have consistently remained in demand, and that Social Equity licensees have a higher relinquishment rate than Standard licensees.

After the ACCD presentation, the Board’s Lead Council, Gabe Gilman, led a discussion on the potential impact of the federal government's tariff war on the regulated cannabis industry in the context of product packaging. Of note, Commissioner Harris stated that his goal is to have a reimagined waiver system by next summer. The discussion ended with the Chair proposing the Board move to extend all existing categorical and product-specific waivers until October 2027.

The Board then held a short discussion on the proposed multi-year product registration language in Bill H.321, an act relating to miscellaneous cannabis amendments. Lead Counsel Gilman shared that while the CCB opposed the originally proposed amendment that reduced the fee schedule for product registration, he detailing the current language would require a rules change before the potential law could take effect.

Lastly, closing out an over two-hour meeting, the Board voted to adopt its regular meeting schedule from July to December 2025, maintaining the same last Wednesday of each month.

Initially Licensed This Meeting

Below is a list of the initially licensed in this Board meeting. Refer to the Executive Director report for the list of license renewals, and other licensing-related issues from this Board meeting.

👉 Propagators:
- Emerald Visions LLC
- High Pines Cultivation

👉 Manufacturers:
- Lee Lynn Prerolls, LLC
- High Priestess