[JURIST] Vermont Governor Phil Scott [official website] vetoed a bill [text] on Wednesday that would have made Vermont the ninth state to legalize recreational marijuana and the first to do so via a legislative body [materials]. Scott sent the bill back to lawmakers with suggestions for more aggressive penalties for using marijuana while driving or in the presence of children. Despite the veto, Scott has indicated that he is willing to work with the legislature [official website] on a compromise and noted the “clear societal shift” towards legalization. According to the governor’s communications director, Rebecca Kelly [official website], the biggest point the governor wants to cover is clearly establishing “how impaired is too impaired.” Unfortunately, however, police do not yet have a reliable toxicology test that can say for sure if someone is to high to drive in the same way that a breathalyzer or blood test can show if someone is too drunk. Despite recreational marijuana currently being illegal in Vermont, the state is still considered to have among the the highest prevalence of marijuana use across all age groups, as reported by the Vermont Department of Health [official website].

Marijuana 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.