Just a few months ago, Andrew Subin and Tim Fair, Burlington attorneys who specialize in the cannabis industry, were juggling telephone calls from growers and processors, looking forward to the day that the Legislature would pass a bill legalizing a commercial trade in adult-use cannabis.
“Pre-Covid, on March 3, we had a conference committee ready to go on S.54,” said Fair, referring to the bill that has passed the Vermont House and Senate. “We were at the finish line for the first time in five years; we were starting to scout locations for adult use dispensaries, and we were really getting excited about the possibility that this could happen.”
The two were planning to attend and speak at an array of industry conferences and were working with entrepreneurs planning to grow cannabis, the plant that in various forms is used to make hemp products; to make cannabidiol, or CBD; or to make the product that contains psychoactive ingredients, popularly known as marijuana.
Post-Covid, things aren’t nearly as dynamic at Vermont Cannabis Solutions, the firm that Fair started in 2017. Fair spends a lot of time these days going for walks with his fiancé, writing a blog, listening to music and watching TV. Subin is building a treehouse, playing his guitar, and working for the Pennywise Foundation, where he serves on the board.
“We have signed a handful of clients, a small fraction of what we would have done (without the Covid-19 pandemic), and we’ve managed to keep our heads above water,” said Fair. “But yeah, I have a lot of spare time.”
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