MONTPELIER - The marijuana legalization discussion is expected to heat up this week with a series of joint legislative hearings and one that will solicit testimony from the public.

The House Judiciary Committee, the committee of jurisdiction for the legalization bill that cleared the Senate in February, will hold hearings with the House committees on government operations and human services, as well as a public hearing Thursday night at the State House.

This will be the second full week the House Judiciary Committee will study the bill that would create a regulated system of cultivation and sales and would allow residents 21 years old and older to purchase as much as half an ounce of marijuana, beginning in 2018.

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MONTPELIER - Senators made it easier for the little guy to break into the cultivation business when they gave their final approval to marijuana legalization Thursday afternoon.

By a vote of 17 to 12, the Senate approved what has been arguably the most debated bill of this legislative session, and in doing so, sends it to the House for further discussion.

"It's a relief for me to have it out of the Senate," said Sen. Dick Sears, D-Bennington, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and someone who became an unlikely advocate for legalization.

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MONTPELIER - Senators made it easier for the little guy to break into the cultivation business when they gave their final approval to marijuana legalization Thursday afternoon.

By a vote of 17 to 12, the Senate approved what has been arguably the most debated bill of this legislative session, and in doing so, sends it to the House for further discussion.

"It's a relief for me to have it out of the Senate," said Sen. Dick Sears, D-Bennington, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and someone who became an unlikely advocate for legalization.

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