Pubdate: Fri, 31 Jan 2014
Source: Middletown Press, The (CT)
Copyright: 2014 The Middletown Press
Contact:  http://www.middletownpress.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/586
Author: Terry Cowgill, CTNewsJunkie.com
Note: Contributing op-ed columnist Terry Cowgill blogs at 
ctdevilsadvocate.com/ and was an editor and senior writer for The 
Lakeville Journal Company. Follow him on Twitter LEGAL WEED: STATE WANTS A BIG PIECE OF THE ACTION

Towns are grappling with the decision last year to legalize the 
manufacture and sale of medical marijuana. Change can be difficult 
for Connecticut's 169 municipalities. It's especially challenging for 
local planning and zoning commissions to wade into uncharted waters. 
And nothing is more uncharted than a medical marijuana dispensary.

Towns are grappling with the General Assembly's decision last year to 
legalize the manufacture and sale of medical marijuana. To say that 
towns are unprepared to regulate such enterprises is quite an 
understatement. Since there was never any need to address them, 
marijuana dispensaries have gone unmentioned in local zoning codes 
for as long as zoning has been around.

Many towns have responded by enacting moratoriums on the 
establishment of such facilities until comprehensive sets of 
regulations can be drafted and enacted. Several towns -- Berlin, New 
Canaan and West Hartford among them -- have halted dispensary 
applications until they can get up to speed on where the best 
locations for the facilities would be, what kind of parking is 
necessary, and if signage of any kind should be permitted. State law 
already covers a host of other issues such as security and lighting.

The phenomenon is reminiscent of the cell towers that sprouted up all 
over the country in 1990s. Caught unprepared by the onslaught of 
applications, towns enacted temporary moratoriums. Some extended 
their moratoriums indefinitely or employed dilatory tactics to thwart 
construction. This invited costly litigation from powerful 
telecommunications companies. Connecticut towns that drag their feet 
on medical marijuana likely will suffer the same fate.

But there also is a substantial cultural shift that goes along with 
state approval of these facilities. After all, many towns, 
particularly those in rural and suburban areas, have never even had 
to deal with the arrival of methadone clinics and homeless shelters. 
The idea of hosting a facility that sells -- however regulated it 
might be -- a product that makes you stupid, and was heretofore 
illegal, does invite some skepticism, perhaps even some resistance.

My guess is the 37 applicant for manufacturing and distribution 
permits in Connecticut have their eyes set on a larger prize. While 
there is no doubt plenty of money to be made in the prescription pot 
market, the big money and the higher volume lies in recreational use.

The states of Washington and Colorado legalized recreational use last 
year. Huge crowds showed up on New Year's Day -- dubbed Green 
Wednesday by pot smokers -- when Colorado's stores began selling up 
to an ounce to state residents, or up to a quarter of an ounce for 
out-of-staters.

It goes without saying that those who are already licensed to sell 
medical marijuana will be better positioned to cash in if and when 
recreational sale becomes legal in Connecticut and the money spigot 
opens even wider.

The regional trend is plain for all to see. While only Colorado and 
Washington have legalized recreational use, every state in New 
England permits the use of the drug for medicinal purposes and, with 
the exception of New Hampshire, all have decriminalized the 
possession of small amounts of weed. Legislation or ballot 
initiatives for recreational use are expected in the next couple of 
years in Vermont, Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire.

Look for the same logic in the recreational-use debate that lawmakers 
used when casino gambling gained increased acceptance in the 1990s. 
Politicians will reason that if everyone is smoking the stuff anyway, 
then the government might as well get a piece of the action.

Mark my words: the insatiable maw of state government will quash any 
moral or legal objections lawmakers have about moving pot squarely 
into the mainstream by legalizing it for recreational use. There's 
one big difference, however. Pot dispensaries and farms employ very 
few people. Connecticut's two casinos have provided thousands of jobs 
over the years and helped revive the southeastern part of the state 
that had been wracked by cuts in defense spending.

Under a deal first negotiated in 1993 by former Gov. Lowell Weicker 
with the Mashantucket Pequots and the Mohegans, the state receives 25 
percent of gross slot machine revenues from the Foxwoods Resort 
Casino and Mohegan Sun. Since its inception, the deal has netted 
Connecticut more than $6.5 billion -- $430 million alone in its peak 
year of 2007.

Will the sale of marijuana ever generate that kind of windfall? I 
don't know, but you can bet the state will try mightily to get it.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom