Changing the Conversation About Cannabis
In most of the states where cannabis commercialization has been legalized the focus has mostly been on creating a legal profit-making system. We want to change the conversation in Burlington and focus our community instead on putting the right guardrails and supports in place to promote public health, protect youth, and advance social equity.
Promotion and easy access to substances in communities has been shown to increase high-risk use and the development of substance use disorders (addiction). Addiction is an adolescent disease. The earlier people start using any substance the more likely they are to develop problem use.
We commit ourselves to investing in things like...
Protecting Burlingtonians from these kinds of youth-centric cannabis products that started popping up in California - link
Reversing the trend of increasing youth poisonings from cannabis we’ve been seeing in Vermont - link
Reducing concentrations of retailers found in Burlington’s lower-income neighborhoods, disproportionally affecting the populations that live there - link
BPHC is re-energizing work we started pre-pandemic to bring people together to improve policies and practices in Burlington that may be contributing to early and/or unhealthy use of cannabis and other legal substances. Our BetterBTV workgroup is pulling together diverse sectors with the following shared values and goals around the adult-use alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis markets in Burlington:
Protect youth.
Protect the health of the community.
Ensure equity and reduce harm to communities disproportionately impacted by predatory industries and through racist systems and structures.
Learn more at our interactive Building a Healthier Burlington website. If this is something you care about and you’d like to get involved, send us a message.
