Lamont eager to sign pot bill
CT Senate gives final OK to marijuana legalization; law would take effect July 1
HARTFORD — On the 50th anniversary of the war on drugs, the state Senate put the finishing touches Thursday on legislation to legalize marijuana in Connecticut.
On July 1, it will be legal for adults over 21 to have an ounce-and-a-half of marijuana, plus another five ounces in a locked container. Retail sales in Connecticut may begin as soon as next spring, under legislation that the state Senate approved in a 16-11 vote after a 70-minute debate on Thursday morning.
Lamont, who campaigned in 2018 with a promise to legalize adult use of cannabis, announced within minutes of the vote that he looks forward to signing the bill into law.
“It’s fitting that the bill legalizing the adult use of cannabis and addressing the injustices caused by the war of drugs received final passage today, on the 50year anniversary of President Nixon declaring the war,” Lamont said in a statement. “The war on cannabis, which was at its core a war on people in Black and brown communities, not only caused injustices and increased disparities in our state, it did little to protect public health and safety. “
The bill, which passed with nine senators absent in the special session, was the third time in 10 days that the Senate voted in favor of landmark legislation that will make Connecticut the 19th state, plus the District of Columbia, to legalize recreational marijuana.
The bill focuses on cannabis business opportunities for inner-city neighborhoods that have been targets for generations in the failed war on drugs. It also contains strong language designed to make it easier for labor ubions to organize workers.
National marijuana ad
vocates called the legislation a model for the country.
Sen. Gary Winfield, DNew Haven, co-chairman of the Judiciary Committee, who introduced the bill, noted that Thursday was the 50th anniversary of Nixon’s press conference declaring the war on drugs. That long effort targeted the counterculture, the antiVietnam War movement and communities of color in urban areas.
“It has come to be acknowledged that those individuals who worked for Richard Nixon had certain intentions,” Winfield said. “We put in place unjust laws.”
Regulation vs. prohibition
Opponents in the Senate, all of them Republicans, said Connecticut should distinguish itself by not legalizing recreational marijuana sales.
“I don’t believe that just because other states are going down this path, that we should,” said Sen. John Kissel of Enfield, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee. “Why can’t Connecticut be that shining city on the hill? An oasis?”
Kissel added, “My concerns regarding our young people and the message that the underlying bill sends to our young people is of concern. He said that towns and cities in the eastern part of the state are suffering economically, and he is concerned that citizens there might be shut out of business opportunities that favor underserved neighborhoods.
“It’s not just about New Haven, Hartford and Bridgeport,” Winfield replied. “It goes beyond that.”
Kissel admitted he has constituents who believe that marijuana is less dangerous to public health than alcohol.
State Senate Minority Leader Kevin Kelly, R-Stratford, warned of adverse health effects on both adults and children that legal cannabis become law.
By contrast, Lamont, like most other Democrats, contends that a regulated market is safer than what we have now.
“By allowing adults to possess cannabis, regulating its sale and content, training police officers in the latest techniques of detecting and preventing impaired driving, and expunging the criminal records of people with certain cannabis crimes, we’re not only effectively modernizing our laws and addressing inequities, we’re keeping Connecticut economically competitive with our neighboring states,” he said in the written statement.
Social equity measures
An April poll from Sacred Heart University indicated that 64 percent of the state favors its full legalization.
“People overwhelmingly think the legislature did the right thing getting it passed,” Lamont said at an unrelated event in Wethersfield. “We’re going to get it going, soon. I think it makes a big difference.”
The he quipped, referring to a last-minute hitch that nearly derailed the effort Tuesday night, “Let’s sign it before somebody changes their mind.”
The final version of the legislation, which easily passed the House of Representatives late Wednesday, was nearly identical to a bill that cleared the Senate early June 8, but which died at midnight June 9 when the House failed to act before the regular legislative session ended.
A Senate bill approved Tuesday would have given people arrested on marijuana crimes favorable treatment in seeking business licenses, in addition to people who live in or grew up in underserved communities. That was not part of a deal negotiated by lawmakers and Lamont. The House stripped those sections from the bill on Wednesday after Lamont threatened a veto — leading to the need for Thursday’s Senate vote.
Democrats who voted against the bill Thursday included Sen. Steve Cassano of Manchester, Sen. Christine Cohen of Guilford, Sen. Joan Hartley of Waterbury, and Sen. Dennis Bradley of Bridgeport. No Republicans voted for it. Sen. Kevin Witkos, R-Canton, who voted for it previously, was absent from Wednesday’s hastily called session.
The bill will provide paths for people who have been convicted of lowerlevel drug possession offenses to erase their criminal records. Eligible people in the social-equity provisions of the legislation will be able to seek cultivation and production partnerships and other business opportunities, including retail, marketing and delivery, under the multi-agency program headed by the state Department of Consumer Protection and a new Social Equity Council.
Sen. Dan Champagne, R-Vernon, a former police officer, charged that the 15-member Social Equity Council would be almost entirely populated by Democrats, which he characterized as partisan. “I also fear where the money ends up,” he said. “I also have concerns that in many places throughout this bill that the police are basically handcuffed.”
Sen. Tony Hwang, a staunch opponent of legalized marijuana, provoked Winfield’s ire by painting a picture of “broken lives of addiction” and proclaiming that the bill is focused on tax revenue, and had not been discussed thoroughly enough by the legislature.
“In 1971 when the war on drugs started, there was policy that was intended to negatively impact certain citizens,” Winfield said, stressing that he has been working on legalization since around the time he first joined the legislature in 2009. “That’s not the way laws are supposed to be made. The reason why I think this is important, is because we have operated for 50 years with unjust laws that target certain communities. We’ve damaged the lives of human beings in the United States of America who are a certain hue, because of politics.”
Projections for tax revenue in a new legal cannabis market exceed $73 million by the 2025-26 fiscal year, but only $4 million in the budget year that starts July 1, as the program gets off the ground.
Ending a long era
The state’s medical marijuana program, approved in 2012, currently serves 54,097 patients. In recent years the state has decreased criminal penalties for possessing small amount of cannabis.
Senate President Pro Tempore Martin Looney, D-New Haven, said that while the tone of some of the debate would indicate it’s a new issue, in fact cannabis has been present for decades.
“It is here in an amount and visibility and accessibility that probably won’t be any different once it is legal for adults,” Looney said. “We will have a regulated product, a taxed product, and a system for use by adults, as we have for tobacco, as we have for alcohol.”
He stressed that most of the focus of talks among lawmakers and the governor’s office centered on the social equity pieces of the bill to help minority communities that might have been harmed since the 1937 outlawing of marijuana.
Under General Assembly rules, the bill was transmitted to Lamont’s office immediately, meaning he could have sign it as soon as Thursday afternoon, but he is likely to wait until next week.
Adam Wood, state spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project, said the law contains “meaningful” public safety and health regulations, as well as employment and economic opportunities.
“The Connecticut Legislature’s commitment to legalizing cannabis through a justice-centered approach is commendable,” Wood said. “For decades, cannabis prohibition and criminalization has harmed some of the state’s most vulnerable communities. This bill not only ends this failed and unjust policy, but it also includes measures that will work to repair the harm that it has caused.”