Vermont Cannabis Retailers Launch Fundraiser for Businesses Impacted by Floods

Members of Vermont’s cannabis industry are launching fundraising efforts to raise money for business owners affected by severe flooding in the state last month, Vermont Public Radio reports. Due to the federal criminalization of cannabis, Vermont’s cannabis companies are ineligible for federal disaster aid for losses caused by flooding; they are, however, eligible for state grants. 

The fundraising program, called A Higher Calling, is led by the Cannabis Retailers Association of Vermont and people who donate can get a pre-rolled joint made of donated flower. It will include a two-day fundraising music festival next month in Cabot. Half of the sales from the concert will go directly toward cannabis recovery, according to a Valley News report. 

Todd Baily, the association’s president, told VPR that the flooding affected more than three dozen cannabis businesses in the state, with losses in the tens of millions of dollars. 

“We’ve heard as high as 20,000 square feet of canopy. For the cultivators that has been lost. That’s significant. We have not even concluded year one of the legal market. So not only were they impacted by this flooding, they’re impacted by the fact they’re a small business that’s still in startup phase.” — Baily to VPR 

Baily said that anyone operating a cannabis business that was impacted by the floods can apply for funds and that if the organization can raise enough funds, they “will support everyone.”