THEVERMONTCYNIC ISSUE 27 - VOLUME 138 | APRIL 19, 2022 | VTCYNIC.COM
Psychedelic Science Club
Catamount Recovery Program
Campus boredom fuels weed-use
A look into past 4/20 celebrations
Recreational cannabis
Student-run club explores the science and destigmatization of psychedelic subtances
Students in recovery for substance-use disorders can find community with UVM-led initiative
Opinion columnist cites lack of campus-activities as UVM’s leading cause of marijuana use
UVM police and students reflect on past and future 4/20 celebrations on UVM’s campus
Owners of cannabis retailers discuss issues of equity and inclusion in passing new policy
NEWS PAGE 2 TOP FOLD
NEWS PAGE 2 BOTTOM FOLD
OPINION PAGE 5
CULTURE PAGE 6
FEATURES PAGE 7
NEWS
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Psychedelic club educates UVM students Skyeler Devlin Cynic News Reporter
UVM’s newly-recognized Psychedelic Science Club offers students a space to learn about the different effects of substances in a judgment-free zone, said Zach Grinspoon, club co-founder and sophomore. Grinspoon worked with sophomore Micah Bernat and senior Henry Schaer to create PSC. The club covers topics such as psychedelics, the science behind them and mental health as it pertains to drugs, according to their Instagram. SGA officially recognized the club Feb. 1, according to an April 12 email from senior Ann Wong, chair of the SGA Club Affairs Committee. “Most people our age aren’t super educated on the specific effects of what drugs are doing to [our] bodies,” Schaer said. “None of us want to stigmatize any sort of particular drug use, but we want to provide that information because I think education is the best form of safety.” Tom Fontana, UVM’s alcohol, cannabis and other drugs initiatives manager at the Center for Health and Wellbeing, attended the club’s first harm reduction meeting Feb. 17. Fontana has proven to be a great educational resource and friend to the club’s founders, Bernat said. “We do routine harm reduction meetings, where we’ll talk about the risks and effects of opioids, cannabis, psychedelics [and] nicotine,” Grinspoon
SOPHIA BALUNEK/The Vermont Cynic Psychedelic Science Club president Henry Schaer, a senior, poses in front of sophomore co-presidents Micah Bernat and Zach Grinspoon (left to right). said. “So that if [students are] making a decision to take substances, they’re making an informed decision.” Grinspoon took a philosophy of mind course with Professor Mark Moyer and afterward asked him to be the club’s faculty adviser, which he was happy to do, Moyer said. Moyer thinks the club leaders do a great job helping people make informed decisions, he said. “I’ve gone to one meeting, and it sounds pretty darn exciting,” Moyer said. “It is pretty ideal when you have
students that find some topic that they’re really into, and they want to go off and even form their own club to do more studying.” Initially, the club’s founders assigned articles for other members to read before the club met, but over time, PSC evolved to offer open forum style meetings with assigned readings not playing as prominent of a role, Schaer said. “We’ve done book group meetings where we just laid out a bunch of books on the table and [had] people look around,”
Bernat said. “Sometimes we do a bit of information presenting during the club [meeting] and sometimes we just kind of talk about more personal experiences.” Grinspoon and Bernat hope to continue to foster a comfortable environment for their peers to learn and ask questions, Grinspoon said. “We’re going to be doing a lot [...] over the summer preparing for the fall,” Bernat said. “But how I see our role in the bigger picture is setting up a very solid scaffolding so that no matter who is in charge,
they can continue […] trying to promote different voices.” Schaer feels optimistic about the club’s future and grateful that discourse around substances is becoming less stigmatized, he said. In the future, PSC plans on buying drug test kits students can use to ensure a drug isn’t laced, Schaer said. He hopes UVM will implement permanent drug testing sites on campus. The club meets every other Thursday at 6:30 p.m. in Jeffords 127, Grinspoon said.
Recovery program has inclusive community approach Audrie Caruso Cynic News Reporter
Editor’s note The name of one recovering student interviewed for this piece has been changed to a first-name pseudonym for privacy. The Catamount Recovery Program helps students in recovery from substance use in an inclusive manner, said Amy Boyd Austin, Catamount Recovery Program director. The program works to create a community for students in recovery that provides them with social connections, relationships and meaningful time together, Austin said. “Most collegiate recovery programs have a very rigid definition of recovery that is abstinence-only,” Austin said. “Not everybody has access to treatment resources and the ability to 100% go into an abstinence-based lifestyle.” The CRP has been active for 12 years, but Austin began program development 14 years ago, she said.
Funding for the CRP comes from the Student Health Fee, Austin said. Several donors have also contributed to the funds for the program. Full-time students pay the Student Health Fee as a part of the UVM Comprehensive fee, which covers physical and mental health related issues, according to the Center for Health and Wellbeing site. Community is the strongest element of the CRP because isolation can be deadly for someone with a substance abuse disorder, Austin said. “Students who are abstinence-based are [...] the most at-risk and [have] the most challenges finding community here at UVM,” Austin said. CRP has activities most days of the week that aim to connect the students and engage them with the CRP space, Austin said. Students in the CRP may also apply for housing in Living/ Learning for a substance-free environment if they want it, Austin said. It would be beneficial to the community for more people to know about the program, said John, a person in recovery in
CRP. If it were broadcasted more, more people in recovery would be involved in the CRP. Once a person joins the program, Austin strongly suggests they take two semesters of a class specifically for students in recovery, John said. The class is one credit per semester and its main purpose is to familiarize the person with Austin. “Recovery is broadcasted of an image of the 40 year-old white man and his life is over, but it’s really not,” John said. “There’s a very young, jovial community in recovery.” Austin coordinates wellplanned CRP events, John said. The events allow students in recovery to focus on spending time with friends without having to worry constantly about trying to stay sober. The CRP is not a part of any other aspect of the University because anonymity is a critical part of being in recovery, John said. All people are welcome in the CRP space regardless of the nature of their relationship with recovery, said Michael Hill, a substance misuse prevention
ERIC SCHARF/The Vermont Cynic The Living Well office April 17. Living Well and the Catamount Recovery Program serve as resources under the Center of Health and Wellbeing at UVM. specialist in Living Well, UVM’s center for promoting healthy living. A student in recovery may be looking to get sober from alcohol but could have an entirely different, non-toxic relationship with cannabis, Hill said. Partial sobriety, where an individual abstains from a substance but may still use others, is part of harm reduction, he said. Harm reduction is an
approach to drug use that seeks to reduce negative impacts on active drug users in order to keep them alive and as healthy as possible, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website. Students interested in getting involved with the CRP can contact Austin at amy.boyd.austin@uvm.edu.
NEWS
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Is UVM really the No. 1 cannabis school?
TYLER NACHILLY/The Vermont Cynic
Lila Cumming Cynic News Reporter
Most respondents to an April 11 Cynic survey don’t regularly smoke cannabis themselves, though they feel their peers regularly do. In 2019, the Princeton Review ranked UVM as the No. 1 university for smoking cannabis, according to an Aug. 15, 2019 Cynic article. However, of 65 students who responded to the survey, 58.1% said they don’t regularly smoke. “I think there are a lot of people who come to UVM [who] already [smoke] weed and when they get here, the culture encourages them to do it even more,” a student stated in the anonymous survey. “Oftentimes people try it out just to fit in with the culture as well.” Sophomore Peyton Applegate does believe a lot of students use cannabis, but she believes people think the amount of smokers is higher than it actually is, she said. “Most people I know started smoking before coming here, but the amount that they’re smoking has definitely increased since being here,” Applegate said. Applegate said she smokes regularly. She believes using cannabis both recreationally and medicinally has a positive impact on her. “I have depression and anxiety and [cannabis] helps,” she said. “I also have an autoimmune disease, so [cannabis] helps me with nausea.” The reputation of the University surrounding cannabis use can attract or deter prospective students depending on the person, though it hasn’t had an impact on Applegate’s experience, she said. Additionally, while a lot of Applegate’s friends do smoke
regularly, many of them have never felt peer pressured to engage in smoking, she said. The University’s reputation coincides with how people think of Vermont as a state, which contributes to the perception that it has of a lot of students who smoke frequently, sophomore Josie Beauregard said. “My perspective is you let people do what [they want] to do,” Beauregard said. “I think it’s great that there’s [a] kind of culture.” Cannabis use on campus did not change her opinion about the University. The smell is the main issue other people have a problem with, but it is something Beauregard said she has gotten used to. “As people are coming to college for the first time and getting to do things that they wouldn’t get to do at home, it’d be maybe a reason that they would like [smoking weed],” Beauregard said. Another student from the survey stated frequent smoking is immersed in the culture of UVM, though they wish it wasn’t normalized so heavily because it increased their smoking habits in their first year. Eighty-eight point nine percent of students who answered the survey stated they have friends who smoke regularly, and 92.1% stated they think a lot of people smoke at the school. “I think it is a thing where the normative perception of what others are doing does not align with what [...] students tell us that they themselves are doing,” said Thomas Fontana, the alcohol, cannabis and other drugs initiatives manager with the Center for Health and Wellbeing. The list of universities that have a reputation for students frequently smoking cannabis resembles the list of liberal colleges, as support
for cannabis correlates with liberal values, Fontana said. Engaging in cannabis use for first-year students is appealing primarily for the social experience rather than the actual high, Fontana said. The act of getting high with other people is widely perceived as being fun and social. Additionally, there is an assumption that everyone engages in smoking regularly since students are aware that people commonly try cannabis and some of their peers smoke frequently, Fontana said. “lf not smoking cannabis had a smell, then the normative perception would be equal because you [say] ‘shit, I smell people not smoking weed all the time,’” Fontana said. The Princeton Review removed 62 categories in 2020 for ranking “Best Colleges,” including cannabis use, according to an April 14 email from Jeanne Krier, publicist for the Princeton Review. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Princeton Review could not adequately survey the appropriate number of students about their campus experiences, Krier stated. The Princeton Review surveys college students countrywide on an annual basis to build rankings pertaining to academic and social life at universities, according to an Aug. 9, 2019 VTDigger article. The Review issues a score to each college based on its students’ responses to each survey question, according to the Princeton Review College Ranking for Methodology webpage. The score is a statistic that gives a numerical basis to compare student opinions from college to college, according to the Princeton Review College Ranking for Methodology webpage.
The Princeton Review calculates its ranking lists using these scores. Colleges that have a high level of consensus among their polled students on the topic make it onto one of the 62 top 20 lists, according to the webpage. “[The Princeton Review survey] just kind of makes a joke out of [cannabis use],” Fontana said. “[It] should be more than that. It kind of adds to just making it harder to have a real conversation about cannabis.” Some students use cannabis for medicinal purposes and wouldn’t want to trivialize that in the survey, Fontana said. Students gather annually on the Redstone green to smoke cannabis on 4/20 at 4:20 p.m., a tradition that is widely documented on Instagram and Barstool Sports, according to an Aug. 15, 2019 Cynic article. Vermont legalized cannabis possession July 1, 2018 for people 21 and over, but the University standards do not allow it on campus, according to the article. Fontana said he conducts a survey every year at the 4/20 event asking students one question: “did you smoke weed yesterday?” “Our data reflects that most [UVM students] aren’t there and most people there aren’t even regular partakers,” he said. “And yet, the perception is this huge crowd. This is UVM.” There is usually an estimated crowd of 500 students on the green, which is only about 5% of the student population, Fontana said. Thirty-eight point one percent of students who took the Cynic survey stated they’re planning to attend the 4/20 event, 20.6% responded with “maybe” and 73% of students stated they know a lot of people who are planning to attend.
OPINION
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Vermont needs to legalize kratom Spencer Hurlburt Opinion Columnist
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EXECUTIVE Editor-in-Chief Kate Vanni editorinchief@vtcynic.com Managing Editor Greta Rohrer newsroom@vtcynic.com
OPERATIONS Operations Manager Emma Chute operations@vtcynic.com
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pioid addiction is a public health problem in Vermont, according to the Vermont Department of Health. Legalizing kratom can help. Kratom, the common name for Mitragyna speciosa, belongs to the coffee family, according to the National Library of Medicine.. It is native to Southeast Asia and combats fatigue, increases productivity and manages pain, according to the
National Library of Medicine. Kratom is illegal in six states, including Vermont, according to a Feb. 10, 2020 Burlington Free Press article. Vermont banned kratom due to kratom-related hospitalizations and a lack of evidence of safe use, according to the article. This was a premature ban because all kratom-related deaths and hospitalizations involved other substances such as fentanyl and heroin, according to the article and the CDC. Kratom eases withdrawal symptoms for people weaning off of opioids, such as heroin, according to an Oct. 26, 2017
WebMD article. Just under 70% of kratom users take the drug to cut back on opioid use, according to a 2017 study from the Drug and Alcohol Dependence journal. Kratom doesn’t suppress the respiratory system like opioids, according to the Protect Kratom website. Respiratory system suppression is the main cause of opioid overdoses. The chemical make-up of kratom is completely different from that of an opioid, according to the website. Ninety-one percent of kratom users reported they regularly took kratom to alleviate pain, according to a
EDITORS Copy Chief Dalton Doyle copy@vtcynic.com Culture & Podcasts Paige Fisher cynicculture@gmail.com vtcynicpodcasts@gmail.com Features Liz Roote cynicfeatures@gmail.com News Ella Ruehsen news@vtcynic.com Sports Matthew Rosenberg sports@vtcynic.com Opinion Emily Johnston opinion@vtcynic.com Layout Ellie Scott layout.cynic@gmail.com Illustrations Izzy Pipa cynicillustrations@gmail.com
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Pages Designers Abby Carroll, Molly McDermott, Sabrina Orazietti, Maddy Thorner, Nicole Bidol Copy Editors Lauren Bentley, Zoe Bertsch, Jacqueline Kelley, Maya Pound
ADVISING Andy Elrick Andrew.Elrick@uvm.edu
Spencer Hurlburt is a sophomore public communication major. He has been writing for the Cynic since fall 2021.
Change the legal drinking age from 21 to 18 Christophe Meunier
Photo Eric Scharf photo@vtcynic.com Assistant Editors Grace Visco (Opinion) Ella Farrell (Layout) Halsey McLaen (News) Catie Segaloff (Copy) Tanner Loy (Photo)
Feb. 3, 2020 Johns Hopkins Medicine survey. In 2020, 68,630 Americans died from opioid overdose, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. With this crisis killing countless Americans, now is a horrible time to start banning possible treatment options. Making kratom illegal creates a dangerous market. Without a ban, those who want kratom can buy it from a store knowing it’s contained properly without contamination from other substances like fentanyl. Kratom is served at bars and sold in smoke shops and gas stations, according to an Oct. 14, 2020 Kratom Spot article. Legalizing the drug allows for anyone to use the substance without judgement. Kratom has a wide variety of positive effects on pain and withdrawal treatment. It needs to be legal for those who need it. Every tool and resource should be utilized to prevent the worsening of the opioid epidemic. The shortsighted decision to ban kratom now closes doors for future studies and treatments that could help recovery from addiction and other painful diseases.
Opinion Columnist
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turned 21 two weeks ago, and upon finally being able to purchase alcohol legally, I went on a bit of a bender. By the time my bender was over, I irresponsibly finished four handles of liquor in a little over a week, and had almost no memory of the previous few days. I realized the past years of not having easy access to alcohol incited this desire to get trashed. This experience only confirmed what I already knew to be true: the drinking age in the United States needs to be lowered to 18. Having a drinking age of 18 would lessen the desire to drink excessively and the consequences of doing so. In 1982, only 14 states had a minimum legal drinking age of 21, according to a March 10, 2016 ProCon.org article. It wasn’t until 1984 with the passage of the National Minimum Drinking Age Act that the drinking age across the country started to uniformly
become 21 years-old, according to Congress.gov. The federal government, under pressure from nonprofit organizations like Mothers Against Drunk Driving, threatened to withhold millions of dollars in funding for highways, according to the ProCon.org article. Attempts to shelter young people from alcohol until they turn 21 through legislation doesn’t keep underage drinking from happening. Seven million people ages 12 to 20 reported they drank alcohol beyond just a few sips in the month prior to publication, according to an October 2021 Underage Drinking webpage on the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Of that total, 18.4% came from boys and girls ages 12-15, representing over 1.2 million cases of underage drinking for that age group, according to the same webpage. One third of college students ages 18 to 22 engaged in binge drinking in the past month, according to the College Drinking webpage on the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.
IZZY PIPA
Binge drinking is defined as the consumption of large amounts of alcohol in over the span of two hours or less, and it can cause various issues including an increased risk of developing alcohol use disorder, according to an American Addiction Centers article. Setting a lower minimum drinking age allows parents to oversee their childrens’ use of alcohol and teach them ways to drink responsibly. The more you tell people they cannot do something, the more they will want to do it — especially young adults.
If forced to learn to drink in secret, we often will not recognize how much is too much. Introducing people to alcohol at a younger age would provide opportunities for them to learn how to drink responsibly: a move that would lower rates of excessive underage drinking and the issues it creates. The U.S. minimum legal drinking age should return to 18. Christophe Meunier is a ju-
nior political science major. He has been writing for the Cynic since fall 2021.
OPINION
Improve out-of-state medication access Mary Kueser Opinion Columnist
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was diagnosed with attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder over the 2020-2021 winter break. I was excited to access medication that would make academics more manageable. The difficulty of receiving my medication as an outof-state student turned my excitement into a tornado of paperwork, emails and phone calls. The inaccessibility of medication for out-of-state students was a major factor in my decision to stop taking my ADHD medication and left me feeling more frustrated than ever. ADHD impacts my life, but the inability to access medication can impact everyone with medical needs. Many ADHD medications require trial periods, where an individual takes a medication for anywhere from three days to four weeks before returning to their doctor and assessing its effect, according
LIZ COPPES
WENZDAE WENDLING to the Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder website. When I first began taking medication at home, I went on a trial period for two weeks. I went back into the doctor’s office after those weeks to start my next dosage. When I went back to school from break, I scheduled my next medication check-in virtually, but I learned that my doctor’s office cannot do telehealth appointments over state lines. I had to wait until I went home for the summer to start my next trial of medication. With no spring break that year, I was forced to wait
four months to return to my doctor’s office. I returned to UVM in the fall and learned my doctor’s office does not send prescriptions across state lines. Regulations are strict for Schedule II drugs, drugs with a high potential for abuse, which many ADHD medications fall under, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration website. Medication under this classification also cannot be refilled, so a doctor has to write and send a new prescription each time a refill is needed, according to a Sept. 17, 2013 National Center for Biotechnology Information
article. Because I couldn’t refill my prescription in Vermont or visit home every time I needed a refill, my options were running out. In search of a solution, I researched medication management options through UVM’s Center for Health and Wellbeing. Students must submit six pieces of supporting evidence to receive medication management at UVM, according to the ADHD Management page on UVM’s Health and Wellbeing website. Students must also submit evidence of neuropsychological testing.
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This evidence includes impairment symptoms before age 12, assessment of other conditions and a diagnostic interview, according to the webpage. As someone diagnosed as an adult, I had trouble documenting official evidence. While I have a documented diagnosis, the tests cost lots of money, and I would have to return to my home doctor’s office to receive the supporting documents of my diagnosis. I have an official diagnosis through my doctor, but can’t afford the testing that provides me with the necessary documentation to access medication management through UVM. I haven’t found an easy way to access the medication, through UVM or my home doctor’s office, that could significantly improve my quality of life, despite a year and a half long journey. I ran out of my one-month prescription a few weeks ago, and at this point I’m tired of dealing with this ineffective process. While it may be difficult to change state laws around medication, UVM should make its medication management system more accessible so outof-state students can regulate their medications while away from home. Mary Kueser is a sophomore public communication major. She has been writing for the Cynic since spring 2020.
UVM doesn’t have a weed issue, it has a boredom issue Lucas Martineau Opinion Columnist
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VM’s student body smokes the most weed out of any college or university in the U.S., according to an Aug. 6, 2019 Business Insider article. Smoking cannabis itself is a non-issue. Though the CDC notes teens using cannabis are more likely to be at risk for mental health issues, there has never been a fatal overdose from cannabis, according to the CDC. If the UVM administration wants fewer students smoking, they need to provide more activities and encourage participation in them. The biggest factor contributing to smoking is the lack of University-sanctioned activities. It became clear after my first year here that smoking weed has more to do with boredom than any deeply entrenched cultural experience. UVM punishes its students
through fines for use of intoxicants, according to UVM’s annual student conduct statistics. In the 2019-20 school year, 128 students received conduct violations for drugs and 513 students received violations for alcohol. The Drug Free Schools and Communities Act of 1989 requires institutions of higher education to establish policies against unlawful possession in order to receive any form of federal funding, according to the U.S. Department of Education. The pandemic significantly impacted large gatherings, but even within precautionary measures, UVM lacks social events for students. During my first two weeks I attended UVM-backed activities: a strip drag show in the amphitheater, tons of food trucks, ax-throwing and a neon silent disco. UVM hosts the Week of Welcome, a week-long event full of free events, according to the Department of Student Life. These events allowed new people to meet each other and
fostered a sense of community within the campus. During this time I noticed considerably fewer people smoking, despite the good weather. UVM Bored, a student-run calendar, catalogs events, and honorably tries their best to keep the student body occupied. However, a Feb. 6 winter edition of the calendar suggests a Monopoly night or a Twilight book club, which are in no way enticing when the memories of a mythic first two weeks are still fresh in the mind. A UVM Bored newsletter from Feb. 14, 2019 showcases a Valentine’s Day masquerade ball, though this was six miles away in Essex Junction. As the months continue and the temperature drops, the selection of activities shrink, and the list of free attractions plummet. UVM needs a happy
EMMA CATHERS
medium with money spent on early-year events and the rest of the year. Instead of going all out those first two weeks, they should spread out events across the seasons. Without UVM-run activities, winter becomes a season in which many stay home, and out of boredom with a lack of things to do, smoke copious amounts of cannabis. UVM cannot rely on students to provide themselves with all the entertainment that campus has to offer. This is an issue that goes
back further than COVID-19 and the fear of large gatherings. The University needs to do a better job organizing events, especially in the winter. Until UVM does this, administrators can’t be surprised when students find other activities, like smoking, for entertainment.
Lucas Martineau is a first-year political science major. He has been writing for the Cynic since spring 2022.
CULTURE
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Student smokers prepare for 4/20 celebration, expecting increased turnout
UVM students gather on the Redstone Green April 20, 2017 to participate in 4/20 activities as UVM Police look on.
Culture and Podcasts Editor
Students began gathering on campus annually on April 20 to smoke cannabis during the mid-‘90s. It has since been a recurring event, UVM Police Chief Tim Bilodeau said. Students anticipate the celebratory gathering will return this year in fullswing, now that COVID-19 masking and social distancing restrictions have dropped, said sophomore Caitlin McCoy. Approximately 500 students participated in the event annually prior to the pandemic, said Tom Fontana, the alcohol, cannabis, and other drugs initiatives manager for the Center for Health and Wellbeing. Drug use on campus initially attracted attention in the ‘60s and the annual 4/20 ritual gained momentum during the ‘80s, according to an April 23, 2019 Cynic article. The event was consistently held in front of the library in the ‘90s, according to article. It moved to the Redstone Green in the past 10 years. “Last year, there were a lot of restrictions on students,” McCoy said. “I think it’s gonna be a lot bigger this year. There’s a bunch of sophomores who need it after last year.” McCoy watched last year’s celebration from her Wilks Hall
dorm window. She refrained from participating because she felt nervous about being written up by UVM Police Services, she said. People approached the green in small groups across Redstone campus, sophomore Chloe Smith said. Since the onset of COVID-19 placed regulations on large gatherings, Smith wasn’t used to seeing crowds of people, she said. “It was definitely the biggest gathering that I’d seen,” Smith said. “With COVID and everything, it was weird seeing so many people.” Approximately 50 to 150 people were there, McCoy said. “It was bigger than I thought it was gonna be, but definitely a smaller group than the pictures I had seen from past years,” McCoy said. McCoy felt police were constantly present on UVM’s campus last year, but she said the pressure lifted somewhat this academic year. “Regulations related to COVID-19 are really specific to public health and not much
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on public safety necessarily,” Bilodeau said. “We play a peripheral component to that public safety in 2022.” UVM Police Services was present at the celebration last year, but didn’t take much action, Smith said. They mostly asked people to put their masks
there is nothing expected of us.” Residential Life requires RAs to report any sightings of cannabis in the dorms, but anything happening outside of the buildings is not in their jurisdiction, Colburn said. RAs mostly only write up students during health and safety checks, said sophomore Julian Henry, Wing Hall resident advisor. “A big thing about being an RA is that you’re not an investigator,” Henry said. “You’re just a reporter, which I’m thankful for.” Henry had not heard directly from his residents that they were planning on participating in 4/20 celebrations, but expects the gathering to be as large as it was before the pandemic, he said. “It’s very interesting the way the administration can, in some ways, condone an activity like that,” Henry said. “Like everybody gathering on the green.” Police will be stationed on campus to monitor the April 20 gathering, but they mostly look to ensure safety and wellness, Bilodeau said.
Last year, there were a lot of restrictions on students. I think it’s gonna be a lot bigger this year.
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Paige Fisher
– Sophomore Caitlin McCoy on and social distance. Resident advisors were not asked to go on duty this year, despite it previously being an expectation, said junior Harper Colburn, Christie Hall resident advisor. “We really weren’t told that much of anything,” she said. “They used to have RAs do walks through the building at 4 and 4:30 p.m. But this year,
OLIVER POMAZI/The Vermont Cynic “We’re just looking for people to be responsible, care for themselves, care for each other,” he said. “We don’t want this non-sanctioned event to have all kinds of other extracurricular stuff as well.” UVM Police Services takes measures to ensure non-UVMaffiliated community members don’t enter the crowd, he said. “Anytime we have a large group we certainly encourage it to be as localized as possible,” Bilodeau said. “We’re reserving a particular space where we anticipate UVM students, and we don’t encourage a situation where UVM must use its resources to be there for people from everywhere else.” The Center for Student Conduct does not prepare for 4/20 events, Director Kim Martin stated in an April 15 email to the Cynic. “We are involved in responding to any reports of alleged violations that get referred to our office from Police and Residential Life,” the email stated. Possession or use of cannabis by students is strictly prohibited by University policy, according to the Code of Student Conduct. “It’s a non-sanctioned event, but there’s generally a gathering,” Bilodeau said. “It doesn’t change that drastically, even over a 20 year period.”
FEATURES
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Vermont’s THC market set to open May 1
ELAINA SEPEDE/The Vermont Cynic Zenbarn Farms chief cannabis guide Jeff Baker, co-owner Marlena Tucker-Fishman, and cannabis consultant Chloe Hendron, a senior (left to right), behind the counter at Zenbarn Farms CBD Shop in Waterbury April 15. Delaney Roy Feature Staff Writer As Vermont’s retail recreational THC market prepares to open, cannabis growers strive to ensure it does so in a sustainable and socially equitable way, said Geoffrey Pizzutillo, cofounder of the Vermont Growers Association. Bill S.54, passed Sept. 25, 2020, allows localities to opt into an adult-use retail market, according to an Oct. 7, 2021 VPR radio segment. The VGA originally opposed the bill, which legalizes recreational THC sale beginning May 1, Pizzutillo said. “It is a very exciting time right now in Vermont,” Pizzutillo said. “It’s also very much a mixed bag. May 1 is the first day of adult-use sales in the state of Vermont and it has been a very sort of quick and somewhat rocky process to bring us to where we are today.” The VGA is a nonprofit coalition of retailers, growers, distributors and others involved in the cultivation and sale of cannabis, Pizzutillo said. They opposed the passing of S.54 due to the lack of sufficient inclusivity and outreach included in the legislation. “When adult-use marketplaces roll out in states in the United States, if the laws are not sensitive to the fact that cannabis prohibition has harmed people of color and socially and economically depressed areas, those areas and those individuals typically fare worse when legalization occurs,” Pizzutillo said. As a nonprofit led by whiteidentifying people, VGA works with nonprofits led by BIPOC-
identifying people, such as the Vermont Cannabis Equity Coalition, in the Vermont State House, in hopes of arriving at a more socially equitable state, Pizzutillo said. The legislation lacks social equity programming that is common in other states’ cannabis legislation, Pizzutillo said. New York governor Kathy Hochul signed a licensing and equity bill into law on Feb. 22, according to the New York Senate website. Under this law, license holders participate in a sustainability and social equity mentorship program and requires that they grow hemp for at least 2 years. Zenbarn Farms, located at 179 Guptil Rd. in Waterbury Center, is a Black-owned, sustainably-grown craft cannabis retailer. They currently focus on CBD-infused products, said Marlena TuckerFishman, co-owner of Zenbarn Farms. “[Zenbarn] is an opportunity to rectify the war on drugs, to help remove the stigma around the plant and to create opportunities for generational wealth that involve health, job training, access to education and a relationship with the land,” Tucker-Fishman said. Waterbury Center’s bordering town, Stowe, has decided to not allow dispensaries within their limits, Tucker-Fishman said. This gives Zenbarn a unique opportunity to become a destination for people to engage in this market equitably. “Being a Black-owned business, it’s a way to represent what this industry should look like when it comes to equity,
and also with the people that we plan to work with within the legacy market,” TuckerFishman said. Senior Chloe Hendron, an employee of Zenbarn Farms, will graduate with a degree in plant biology and hopes to work in the cannabis industry to create a more just and socially conscious future for cannabis sales, she said. “As a young person of color, there’s a stigma associated with cannabis and the war on drugs,” Hendron said. “There’s a lot of incarcerated individuals for [cannabis sale and possession]. I’m hoping that the state of Vermont creates laws and regulations that benefit those that have been previously targeted for these issues.” Entering the industry as a woman of color is very daunting knowing it’s white- and maledominated, Hendron said. She hopes to make a positive difference in the cannabis retail trade and make it a more accessible field for people of color. “[Zenbarn] has an initiative to try and train and work with previously incarcerated individuals for cannabis crimes, specifically people of color,” Hendron said. Helping people in the local community is the most rewarding aspect of working in the cannabis industry, Hendron said. Magic Mann Cannabis Bakery and Cafe, an ediblefocused CBD dispensary located at 21 Essex Way, Suite 216 in Essex, began in an attempt to make medical cannabis products more available, said owner Meredith Mann. “My main goal is that we
ELAINA SEPEDE/The Vermont Cynic Several smoking devices on display in the showroom of Zenbarn Farms CBD shop in Waterbury April 15.
TANNER LOY/The Vermont Cynic Water pipes and other smoking devices on display on the counter of Magic Mann Cannabis Bakery and Cafe in Essex April 16. all work together as farmers, edible-makers and retailers to make sure that Vermont does this right, is successful and that all of Vermont benefits from it,” Mann said. Mann began working in the industry over 30 years ago, she said. As a mother and a patient requiring medical cannabis, she needed a safe way to access cannabis when it was not available to her to purchase legally. “[The new legislation] means
everything to me because THC is such a magical cannabinoid that is so inaccessible to people,” Mann said. “Right now, the black market is the only place people can access it, and there’s so many people of all ages that really want to use it recreationally and medicinally.” Both Magic Mann and Zenbarn Farms plan to begin selling cannabis products containing THC Oct. 1.
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NCAA limits caffeine intake Matthew Rosenberg Sports Editor
UVM varsity studentathletes must monitor their caffeine intake due to NCAA regulations limiting consumption of caffeine before competitions, according to the NCAA’s list of banned and restricted substances. The NCAA classifies caffeine as a banned substance, according to their regulations. A urinary caffeine concentration greater than 15 micrograms per milliliter constitutes a positive drug test, resulting in a oneyear suspension from competition, according to the NCAA’s drug testing manual. A person needs to ingest about 500 milligrams of caffeine two to three hours before a competition to reach the limit, according to a 2018 NCAA study. An eight-ounce cup of drip coffee contains an average of 145 milligrams of caffeine, according to Caffeine Informer, a database tracking caffeine content in beverages and supplements. The Food and
Drug Administration discourages consuming more than 400 milligrams of caffeine per day, according to their website. An athlete would have to consume three to six caffeinated beverages before competition to return a positive drug test, according to the NCAA limits. The NCAA regulates caffeine because athletes can use it to increase endurance and reduce fatigue, according to Global Sport Matters. Low levels of caffeine consumption can improve an athlete’s performance in cardiovascular exercise and endurance training, according to an NCAA Sport Science Institute study. However, the study states caffeine can be dangerous in high amounts. “Caffeine consumed at very high levels – six to nine milligrams of caffeine per kilogram of body weight – can cause gastrointestinal issues, nausea or shaking, as well as overstimulation that can negatively impact training, sleep and performance,” according to a 2018 NCAA Sport Science Institute study.
The NCAA is not the only sports organization that has restricted caffeine consumption. In 1984, caffeine consumption over 12 micrograms per milliliter was banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency, which creates substance use regulations for sports organizations worldwide, according to the National Library of Medicine. WADA initially regulated caffeine because of its perceived performance-enhancing effects. However, in 2004, WADA ended its ban upon determining caffeine in very large amounts was detrimental to athlete performance, not an advantage. WADA also reversed its ban to prevent athletes drinking coffee or soda from testing positive, according to the Washington Post. The caffeine limits are so high that UVM athletes are not at risk of exceeding them, stated Nich Hall, director of athletic communications and broadcasting, in an April 11 email. “It’s not really something that [affects] our student athlete’s dayto-day life,” Hall stated.
Congratulations to the 30 teams and 785 students, alumni and staff who participated in RALLYTHON! Together, you raised $97,449.60 to support the patients and families at the UVM Children’s Hospital. And, a huge thank you to the amazing donors, campus partners and student leaders who make this campaign such a success each year. For more info on the campaign, check out go.uvm.edu/uvmrallython
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