Pubdate: Tue, 22 Dec 2009
Source: Hartford Advocate (CT)
Copyright: 2009 New Mass. Media, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.hartfordadvocate.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/182
Author: Gregory B. Hladky

THE GREEN ISSUE

In 10 Years, Weed Could Be Legal -- And Taxed -- In Connecticut

Connecticut's raised taxes on millionaires and  cigarettes. We've 
raised the fees you pay on cars,  hunting licenses and almost 
everything else, and it's  still not enough to solve the state's budget blues.

So why let producers and consumers of what is perhaps  the state's 
third most valuable agricultural crop off  without paying a penny in taxes?

According to a 2006 study of marijuana production in  this nation, 
the market value of Connecticut-grown  grass is at least $32.2 
million a year. That's less  than greenhouse and nursery crops and 
the totals for  veggies and fruit, but more than shade-grown 
tobacco  brings in.

A recent raid on a high-tech, hydroponic indoor  marijuana operation 
in New Haven netted 273 plants and  152 pounds of pre-packaged pot 
the cops valued at $2.4  million.

Federal drug experts estimate that local production  only accounts 
for a fraction of the marijuana sold in  the U.S., which means the 
sales that could be taxed by  the state would be far more than the 
estimated 20,000  pounds of dope gown locally in Connecticut each year.

Legalizing marijuana would generate far more benefits  than simple 
tax revenue, according to Bob Painter, a  researcher and policy 
analyst at the Institute for  Municipal and Regional Policy at 
Central Connecticut  State University.

He believes putting pot into the same category as  alcohol and 
tobacco, with strict regulation and a  prohibition on sales to 
minors, would cut law  enforcement and prison costs. Painter says 
money from taxing pot could be used to fund education, 
prevention  and treatment of drug addiction.

Painter doesn't think any of this could happen right  away, but he 
says the obvious failure of the war on  drugs is pushing many 
moderates toward alternatives  that were once considered the 
exclusive domain of  radical lefty freaks.

Chances for legalizing pot in Connecticut are "pretty  small in the 
near future," Painter admits. He adds  that, "In the distant future, 
they're pretty likely.  ... In 10 years, we're going to be looking at 
a  different landscape."

The landscape is already changing.

Massachusetts voters recently approved  decriminalization of small 
amounts of marijuana. The  Obama administration has halted federal 
raids on  producers and users of medical marijuana as long as  state 
laws aren't being violated.

In Connecticut, state Senate Majority Leader Martin M.  Looney says 
the shift in federal policy could lend  momentum to legalize medical 
marijuana here. The  legislature passed a medical marijuana bill a 
couple of  years ago, only to see Gov. M. Jodi Rell veto it.

Looney and state Sen. Toni Harp, both New Haven  Democrats, this year 
sought legislation to legalize  small amounts of pot, claiming it 
could save the state  $11 million a year in law enforcement costs. 
Looney  said he doubts they'll try again until the current  "cast of 
characters" changes.

Painter said his research shows legalization of  marijuana would have 
its biggest effect in  Connecticut's cities. He found that 22 percent 
of all  drug arrests in Hartford (where the suburbanites come  for 
their dope) between Dec. 16, 2008, to June 16,  2009, involved marijuana.

State Rep. Michael P. Lawlor, an East Haven Democrat  and co-chairman 
of the legislature's Judiciary  Committee, thinks attitudes are 
changing about how to  deal with marijuana.

Lawlor said the real question isn't stopping the sale  of weed, which 
appears to be impossible. (A recent  survey of 47,000 teenagers found 
that a 10-year decline  in pot use by high schoolers has halted and 
smoking pot  is on the rise again.) Lawlor figures the important 
issue is figuring out how best to control those sales.

A criminal justice professor at the University of New  Haven, Lawlor 
said he routinely asks new college  students whether it's easier for 
teens to get beer or  marijuana. "Almost without exception, recent 
high  school graduates say it's easier to get pot," Lawlor  said.

"So, would you be able to control it better if you  treated marijuana 
more like beer?" Lawlor asked.

And, of course, tax it like beer.
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart