Pubdate: Tue, 14 Apr 2009
Source: Yale Daily News (CT Edu)
Copyright: 2009 Yale Daily News
Contact:  http://www.yaledailynews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1614
Author: Zeke Miller
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)

STATE LEGISLATURE COULD LEGALIZE POT POSSESSION

A bill currently under consideration in the Connecticut  General 
Assembly could provide the most dramatic change  to state narcotics 
law in recent history.

Late last month, the legislative body's Judiciary  Committee approved 
a law to decriminalize possession of  small amounts of marijuana, 
greatly reducing the  penalty for possession of less than one ounce. 
While it  lowers the disincentives for possessing marijuana, 
the  bill will also decrease the burden on Connecticut's  criminal 
justice system and help ease the state's  budget crisis.

Currently, possession of one ounce of marijuana is a  misdemeanor 
punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 and/or  imprisonment for up to 
one year. But the GA's bill  reclassifies the offense as an 
infraction punishable by  a $121 fine.

General Assembly staffers say there is a good chance  the bill would 
garner a majority of votes. Several  heavy-hitters in the 
legislature, including Senate  Majority Leader Sen. Martin Looney and 
Sen. Toni Harp  of New Haven, support the bill. But supporters of 
the  bill say they do not have enough votes to override a  presumed 
veto by Gov. M. Jodi Rell.

"The word in the Capitol is that it isn't likely that  the bill will 
be enacted this year, in part because  Gov. Rell has threatened a 
veto and [the Democrats]  don't seem to have enough votes to 
override," said one  Democratic staffer with knowledge of the bill. 
"The leadership will have to make a decision whether they  want to 
wage a fight on the floors of the House and  Senate too."

While Rell has expressed displeasure with the bill, she  has yet to 
threaten to veto the legislation outright.  In 2007, Rell vetoed a 
medical marijuana bill, saying  at the time that she could not 
support legalizing the  possession of a drug that would still be 
illegal to buy.

And indeed, the current proposal does nothing to change  the fact 
that buying or distributing marijuana is  illegal.

But even the current illegality has not deterred the  nearly 10,000 
yearly arrests in Connecticut for  marijuana possession -- 
approximately 33 percent of  which are for possession of less than 
one ounce of  marijuana.

Several students interviewed said that though buying  and selling 
marijuana would still be punishable by  imprisonment, they think the 
change in the law will  cause more Yale students to use the drug.

"An ounce is a lot of marijuana," said one student who  did not wish 
to be identified. "Most students are not  dealing drugs, and would be 
more likely to use  marijuana now that they can't be prosecuted for 
possessing less than an ounce."

If this measure passes, Connecticut would be the 14th  state in the 
nation to decriminalize the possession of  small amounts of cannabis, 
said Allen St. Pierre, the  executive director of the National 
Organization for the  Reform of Marijuana Laws.

In a Quinnipiac Poll conducted last month, 58 percent  of state 
residents expressed support for such a  decriminalization measure.

But this bill would impact residents beyond just those  who use 
marijuana, said Kica Matos, community services  administrator for the 
City of New Haven. Matos said the  cost of incarcerating offenders -- 
$44,000 annually for  adults and $100,000 annually for children -- is 
reason  enough for re-evaluation of the state's drug policy.

"The proposed bill would not only reduce the [prison]  re-entry 
population in Connecticut by decreasing the  penalties for possession 
of small amounts of  marijuana," she said, "but in doing so would 
free up  resources that are desperately needed to 
address  substantively the real problems our cities face, 
from  homelessness to re-entry, teen pregnancy to substance  abuse."

As it stands, the bill would cut state costs by as much  as $11 
million annually, according to the Office of  Fiscal Analysis, while 
raising an estimated $320,000 in  revenue for the state's General 
Fund from fines on  minor marijuana possession.

The bill was passed by the Judiciary Committee on March  31 and was 
referred Monday to the Office of Legislative  Research and the Office 
of Fiscal Analysis, the next  step on the road to law.

Harrison Korn contributed reporting.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom