'Prohibition Doesn't Work': Lawmakers Push Legal Marijuana In CT

CONNECTICUT — Gov. Ned Lamont met with business leaders, local officials, community advocates, criminal justice experts and other stakeholders Wednesday to discuss his plan to legalize recreational marijuana in Connecticut.

His proposal, Senate Bill 888, calls for possession of up to 1.5 ounces of marijuana by residents age 21 and over to become legal Jan. 1, 2022. Sales would begin in May 2022, subject to sales, excise and municipal taxes.

"Prohibition doesn't work," Lamont said, citing the underground alcohol market managed by Al Capone and other gangsters in 1920s Chicago.

Michele Seagull, commissioner of the Department of Consumer Protection, said there would be heightened regulations for the new industry, including registration or licensing of employees, child-resistant packaging and restrictions on advertising.

More than 7,500 residents were criminally charged with marijuana possession last year, according to Mike Lawlor, associate professor of criminal justice at the University of New Haven. Those arrests were characterized by an "extraordinary disparity when it comes to persons of color," according to Lawlor.

Recent data indicates that police officers who say they smell marijuana in a car as a justification to search the vehicle often do not report they found marijuana, Lawlor said.

"So it's possible that some police officers are just saying that because it is impossible to disprove," according to the professor.

Legalization of marijuana for recreational use would have a significant effect on day-to-day police procedures. Officers would no longer be able to conduct searches, stops or seizures based on the odor of marijuana unless it's in the context of impaired driving. A "behavioral impairment standard" would need to be created that allowed for sanctions against impaired drivers, and police would need to be trained quickly in how to gauge a driver's pot-impaired driving, as they do those affected by alcohol consumption. Penalties for driving while weed-impaired are expected to be the same as those for driving under the influence of alcohol, and include license suspension and fines.

Lawlor called Lamont's proposal "the worst nightmare of organized crime drug dealers" whose business he predicted would be severely jeopardized and eventually replaced by the taxable transactions of new marijuana entrepreneurs.

Ben Florsheim, mayor of Middletown, said he was looking forward to collecting those taxes. He pointed to "at least half a dozen if not more recreational dispensaries" just over the state line in Massachusetts that are "taking in money hand over fist" from Connecticut residents. He said that in addition to revenue opportunities from local municipalities' share of the sales taxes, towns would also score with new business development.

"You can drive to Massachusetts, pretty soon you'll be able to drive to New York, you can drive to New Jersey, back and forth ... or you can buy from the guy on the street corner, if you think that's a safer, better way to do it," Lamont said.

Calling the governor's proposition a "no-brainer" with "not a lot of risk in it," Charles Daniels, chief financial officer of Wepco Plastics in Middlefield, said it was a chance for some businessmen to come out of the shadows.

"People who have been working in this industry — one way or the other — over the course of the last several years now have an opportunity to come out and do so legally," Daniels said.

The legalization of the drug would also be applied retroactively in the governor's current proposal. People with convictions for possession of small amounts of marijuana before Oct. 1, 2015, would have convictions automatically erased. Those convicted after that date would have to petition the court for erasure.

Can the governor's proposed legislation pass? It's a coin toss and does not break across party lines. There are Democrats and Republicans in Hartford who have shown support and resistance to legalizing weed in the state. If it does not pass the normal legislative process, House Speaker Matt Ritter has previously indicated he would put the issue before voters as a constitutional amendment.

Speaking at the governor's roundtable Wednesday, Rep. Mike D'Agostino, House chair of the General Law Committee, was bullish on the chances of Lamont's proposed bill in the current session.

"The prohibition of adult-use cannabis has failed — this bill will succeed," D'Agostino declared.

Recreational use of marijuana has been legal in New Jersey as of Monday, in Massachusetts since 2o16, and in Vermont since 2018. The drug is only available legally in New York and Pennsylvania for medical applications.