State’s top cop pushes pot bill
In break from local chiefs who remain opposed, Rovella swayed by funding for trooper training
“This bill’s full support for law enforcement training and testing of impaired driving is one of the important reasons I stand behind it.” Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection Commissioner James Rovella, testifying in support of the marijuana legalization bill
HARTFORD — Breaking with local police chiefs who strongly oppose legalizing recreational marijuana, the leader of the Connecticut State Police said Friday that he favors legalization because the state intends to spend more than $2 million over two years to train troopers in enforcement.
Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection Commissioner James Rovella, a longtime police officer and former Hartford police chief, said the additional money will provide training for troopers in
“advanced roadside impaired driving enforcement” as more residents are expected to be driving after smoking marijuana if it is legalized.
In addition, the money would allow more state troopers to be certified as “drug recognition experts” who could be called to the scene after accidents and could testify in court to obtain convictions.
“This bill’s full support for law enforcement training and testing of impaired driving is one of the important reasons I stand behind it,” Rovella said in testimony to the legislature’s judiciary committee that held a marathon public hearing Friday on Gov. Ned Lamont’s 163-page legalization bill.
Rovella’s position is directly opposed by the Connecticut Police Chiefs Association, which has been lobbying for years against marijuana legalization. The chiefs say that the biggest problem is officers do not have a roadside test to prove that a driver has been smoking marijuana. By contrast, police are able to administer a simple blood alcohol test to know precisely how much alcohol a person has consumed when pulled over for drunken driving.
“This bill, if passed, will diminish the safety of our roadways, while at the same time law enforcement is still dealing with the effects of the opioid crisis and the impact that has had on roadway and pedestrian safety,” the chiefs said in written testimony.
The chiefs and their lobbyists have been among the driving forces in repeatedly defeating marijuana legislation for the past five years. Advocates have pushed for legalization, but they have never had enough votes in the state House of Representatives and Senate.
Police made 8,465 arrests for drunk and drugged driving in Connecticut in 2019 — an average of more than 20 per day. Scientifically, alcohol and marijuana have different impacts on the body and on impaired driving, officials said.
Rep. Michael Quinn, a Meriden Democrat who also works as an attorney handling drunken driving cases, questioned whether first-time offenders under the marijuana law would be diverted to alcohol education classes to clear their records. The programs that drivers attend now would remain, officials said. The state motor vehicles department has backed away from lengthy license suspensions because they want residents to be able to go to their jobs and become productive members of society, officials said.
Lamont, whose administration authored the legalization bill, and other supporters say that Connecticut needs to move forward with legal marijuana sales for adults over age 21 because it has already been legalized in Massachusetts, New Jersey and others nearby among 15 states nationwide.
The governor and his administration are keenly aware of opposition to the current bill by some liberal Democrats who believe that the measure needs more equity for residents of inner cities and some conservative Republicans who believe that marijuana causes too many health risks, particularly for young people.
“This is not a final bill. I’ll say it again. This is not a final bill,” said
Paul Mounds Jr., Lamont’s chief of staff, who was among 20 administration members who testified for nearly four hours during a Zoom hearing.
Under Lamont’s bill, those convicted of low-level marijuana possession offenses prior to Oct. 1, 2015, would have their convictions automatically erased. People convicted after that date would need to petition the courts to have their records erased.
Rep. Craig Fishbein, a conservative Republican attorney from Wallingford, questioned how the administration can support the bill because federal law, where marijuana is illegal, supersedes state law.
“How do I vote for this without violating my oath of office?” asked Fishbein, the ranking House Republican on the judiciary committee.
Consumer protection Commissioner Michelle Seagull and others said the federal government is aware of both medical and recreational marijuana laws across the country and has not pushed criminal prosecutions on the federal level.
Fishbein questioned why Connecticut residents, unlike Vermont, would not be permitted to grow their own marijuana in their homes. The consumer protection department will conduct a study on the idea, but officials said homegrown marijuana would not be the same quality as a “safe, clean, regulated product” that is expected by professional growers. In addition, the state would not collect any tax revenue from home-grown products that are not regulated.
Rep. Robyn Porter, a New Haven Democrat, and others said that a crucial piece of the bill must be to provide equity and opportunities for residents of inner cities who have suffered from criminal histories related to marijuana-related arrests for decades.
“Some people call it the war on drugs,” Porter said Friday during a news conference before the hearing. “I call it the war on Black, brownand poor people.”
A key point, Porter said, is providing jobs for the thousands of convicted criminals whohave been released from the state’s prisons. The prison population has dropped to about 9,000, compared to more than 18,000 under then-Gov. M. Jodi Rell when inmates were not released following three murders in Cheshire in 2007. About 60% of the current inmates are Black, officials said.
Unlike other industries that have seen sluggish growth or shrunk during the global pandemic over the past year, the marijuana industry has been thriving. The industry currently provides 312,000 full-time workers nationwide at a time when millions of Americans have lost their jobs, Porter said.
“In Michigan, they have more cannabis workersthancops,” Porter said. “This is an industry that is booming. From 2017 to this present moment, the cannabis industry has 161 percent job growth. We’re talking about putting hundreds of thousands of people back to work.”
She added, “We have been disproportionately impacted by this pandemic. Some people call it revenues. I like to look at it as reparations.’’
During the hearing, Porter asked a series of questions before saying that equity is not on the front burner with the Lamont administration’s bill.
“It seems to be an afterthought,” she said.
ButRep. ThomasO’Dea, aRepublican attorney from New Canaan, said he does not believe that legalizing marijuana would “help those urban communities that were so devastated” by drug laws that led to numerous arrests in the past.
Rep. Anne Hughes, a liberal Democrat from Easton, said the definition of “equity” is important, saying the governor’s bill does not go far enough.
Equity “doesn’t even mean the same thing as restitution for a wrong,” Hughes said during a virtual news conference. “I’m talking to white boys and girls here. Those of us who haven’t been adversely harmed don’t get to describe and define what equity means to those who have. So when you bring together those who have been adversely harmed, take their advice.”
Hartford City Council member Wildaliz Bermudez of the Working Families Party said Lamont’s bill “is not really about equity” because the bill does not do enough for “the people who are most impacted by this.”