Efforts at legalizing recreational marijuana use and cultivation in Vermont went up in smoke Tuesday as the House defeated proposals put forth by Democratic and Progressive lawmakers.

In a marathon session that began in the morning and lasted until nearly 6 p.m., House members considered a range of proposals for legalizing and decriminalizing pot.

Starting with the Senate-approved S.241, a bill that devised a regulatory structure to grow and sell pot in retail outlets beginning in January 2018, the House voted 121-28 to strike that language from an unrelated criminal procedures bill and replace it with a compromise amendment to decriminalize cultivation of two cannabis plants for personal use.

State Rep. Chris Pearson, P-Burlington, in one of many discourses offered throughout the afternoon, railed against House members’ opposition to the Senate commercialization scheme.

“Prohibition fails because we have $150 million worth of economic activity related to cannabis every year in Vermont,” Pearson said. “It fails because use, frankly,...