MEXICO CITY (AP) - Officials said Wednesday that a drug gang implicated in the disappearance of 43 students in a southern city essentially ran the town, paying the mayor hundreds of thousands of dollars a month out of its profits from making opium paste to fuel the U.S. heroin market. The statements painted the fullest picture yet of the control that is exercised by gangs over a broad swath of Mexico's hot lands in Guerrero state. The Guerreros Unidos cartel's deep connections with local officials in the city of Iguala came to a head Sept. 26 when the mayor ordered municipal police to detain protesting students, who were then turned over to the drug gang. [continues 519 words]
Months before any cannabis-based products will reach patients, Connecticut's new medical-marijuana industry has already created hundreds of jobs -- in construction. Former factories are being reconfigured into secure pharmaceutical facilities for the growing, harvesting, curing and preparation of various strains of marijuana that should be delivered to the state's dispensaries by early fall. Since the state awarded four marijuana producer licenses in January, an estimated $20 million has been committed to the West Haven, Watertown, Portland and Simsbury buildings that in a few weeks will begin growing thousands of pounds of pot. [continues 1130 words]
BETHEL -- After weeks of looking for a place to open a medical marijuana dispensary, and with a Thursday deadline looming, a Trumbull company finally found a home in an empty building on Garella Road near Interstate 84. D&B Wellness Inc. had to secure zoning approval somewhere to receive one of six state licenses to operate a dispensary. The company had failed twice -- once in Stratford and again in Bridgeport -- and seemed likely to be turned down in Redding as well. [continues 609 words]
It hasn't been easy for those who want to get into the business of growing or selling marijuana in Connecticut. More than a dozen municipalities throughout the state are hanging out "not welcome" signs, using the only tools at their disposal -- land use and zoning laws -- to keep the industry from setting up shop within their borders. Still other communities are drafting local ordinances to regulate how the businesses will be run. And at least one town has considered applications from a couple of would-be purveyors, only to quickly turn them down. [continues 1777 words]
BRIDGEPORT - Mayor Bill Finch wants zoning commissioners to speed up economic growth and that includes approving a medical marijuana farm. "We've got to move things quicker," Finch, a Democrat, said in an interview Wednesday following his weekly "brown bag lunch" with constituents. During the lunch, students from Housatonic Community College asked the mayor what his administration is doing to create more jobs in Bridgeport. Finch spoke at length on the challenges faced by the Parks City and also criticized the Planning and Zoning Commission. [continues 566 words]
HARTFORD -- The Connecticut Senate granted final approval early Saturday to a bill that would allow the use of medical marijuana and includes strict regulations for the cultivation and distribution in an attempt to avoid problems other states have run into when legalizing the plant for medical use. The measure passed the state's Senate 21-to-13 after nearly 10 hours of debate. It now goes to Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, who said in a statement that he plans to sign the bill into law, as he believes it would "avoid the problems encountered in some other states." [continues 763 words]
Matt, a 20-year-old student at Sacred Heart University, occasionally buys small amounts of marijuana. He has never been caught by police, but he said friends have, and they got lucky. Faced with two choices -- charging the users with a crime punishable by a $1,000 fine and possible imprisonment or letting Matt's friends go after disposing of the pot -- the police chose the latter. "They didn't arrest them," said Matt, who asked that his last name not be published. "They just let them go." [continues 1828 words]
Regarding Jim Miron's June 8 op-ed, if health outcomes determined drug laws instead of cultural norms, marijuana would be legal. Unlike alcohol, marijuana has never been shown to cause an overdose death, nor does it share the addictive properties of tobacco. Marijuana can be harmful if abused, but jail cells are inappropriate as health interventions and ineffective as deterrents. The first marijuana laws were enacted in response to Mexican immigration during the early 1900s, despite opposition from the American Medical Association. Dire warnings that marijuana inspires homicidal rages have been counterproductive at best. White Americans did not even begin to smoke pot until a soon-to-be entrenched federal bureaucracy began funding reefer madness propaganda. [continues 77 words]
On June 4, the Connecticut State Senate passed, by a 19-18 vote, a bill decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of marijuana. The bill was then approved in the Connecticut House of Representatives and will be sent to the governor for signature. Gov. Dannel Malloy is in support of the bill. According to a Harvard economist, Connecticut spends more than $130 million every year in enforcing marijuana prohibition laws. This is real money that can be better spent in Connecticut. [continues 637 words]
HARTFORD -- Proponents hope amended language and a persuasive governor will guarantee the General Assembly passes one of a pair of controversial marijuana bills before next Wednesday's adjournment. "At least one of the two is going to pass," Michael Lawlor, Gov. Dannel Malloy's criminal justice undersecretary, said Wednesday as lawmakers worked behind the scenes to refine proposals decriminalizing small amounts of marijuana and legalizing it for medicinal purposes. The two bills survived the Legislative Committee process and await action in the Senate, which must pass them on to the House of Representatives. [continues 547 words]
I understand that the initial knee-jerk reaction is negative to legislation before the General Assembly regarding the reduction of penalties for the possession of small amounts of marijuana. It stems from the smokescreen of misinformation we have been inundated with by the government and other interested parties who profit from the continuing war on drugs. But we must see through this smokescreen to the truth. By now, most of us have either tried marijuana or know someone who has. We know from experience that it is not the evil, harmful drug that it is purported to be. In fact, it is significantly less harmful than many prescription drugs out there. [continues 103 words]
Thanks to the Connecticut Post for making the case for marijuana decriminalization in your April 3 editorial. Marijuana prohibition has done little other than burden millions of otherwise law-abiding citizens with criminal records. The University of Michigan's "Monitoring the Future Study" reports that lifetime use of marijuana is higher in the United States than any European country, yet America is one of the few Western countries that use its criminal justice system to punish citizens who prefer marijuana to martinis. The short-term health effects of marijuana are inconsequential compared to the long-term effects of criminal records. [continues 114 words]
While the cost of the Legislature is alarming in a fiscal depression such as we are now experiencing, some other expenses that aren't being cut are downright disturbing to the majority of Connecticut residents. Gov. M. Jodi Rell is misguided in her attempts to trim the budget. While she was quoted in recent news articles as saying "Everyone has to think about giving back," she fails to take back marijuana prohibition and fails to view the Department of Correction budget as the real financial threat it is to our state. [continues 431 words]
Polls indicate that state residents are willing to take a closer look at harsh penalties for marijuana possession. It's time lawmakers followed suit. The General Assembly's Judiciary Committee last week approved legislation that would end criminal penalties for possession of small amounts of marijuana and create mail-in fines of $250. The change would not sanction or condone the use of drugs, but it would be a step toward eliminating a statute that can put a black mark on people's lives for generations. [continues 363 words]
HARTFORD -- The legislative Judiciary Committee on Tuesday night approved legislation that would end criminal penalties for possession of small amounts of marijuana and create mail-in fines of $250. The bill was approved 23-11 after a two-hour debate and next moves to the state Senate. Rep. Michael P. Lawlor, D-East Haven, co-chairman of the committee, offered an amendment -- approved in a voice vote of the committee -- that would reduce the threshold amount from a proposed one ounce, down to half an ounce. He said the advantage of the bill would be to save up-front court costs -- where prosecutors would only have to pay minimal attention and public defenders wouldn't have to get involved - -- as well as stress on the probation system. [continues 928 words]
HARTFORD -- The legislative push began Tuesday for a Massachusetts-style law to decriminalize possession of up to an ounce of marijuana, making it punishable by a small fine and removing the lifetime stigma of a misdemeanor arrest. Led by Senate Majority Leader Martin M. Looney, D-New Haven, the bill would save the state an estimated $11 million a year in police, court and incarceration costs and produce about $320,000 in revenue from fines. More than a dozen people, including college students and drug-policy advocates, from throughout the state testified in favor of the legislation during an afternoon-long hearing before the powerful Judiciary Committee. [continues 558 words]
WASHINGTON -- Rep. Christopher Shays will be at the NAACP's annual convention in Cincinnati on Monday to talk about drug sentencing laws that some claim hit African American's hardest. Shays and Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee, D-Texas, have introduced legislation that would eliminate the disparity in sentences between powder cocaine and crack cocaine. "The NAACP has worked for decades to help people of all races, nationalities and faiths unite on one premise, that all men and women are created equal," Shays said. "I'm grateful to have the opportunity to speak with NAACP members about issues I care about like reducing the disparity in crack-cocaine sentencing disparity, ending racial profiling, strengthening hate crime prevention laws and increasing affordable housing." [continues 260 words]
The Ansonia Board of Education has been ordered by a federal judge to pay $17,902 in legal fees and another $1,294 in court costs to a Bridgeport lawyer who successfully overturned the expulsion of a former high school football player arrested on a marijuana charge after school. U.S. District Judge Janet C. Hall awarded the payments to Gary Mastronardi, a former FBI agent turned lawyer, for his representation of Tristan Roberts, a 17-year-old Ansonia High School junior, and his mother, Paulette Bolling, last fall. [continues 311 words]
WASHINGTON - More than 200 inmates incarcerated in federal prisons in Connecticut for crack cocaine offenses could see their sentences cut by an average of 27 months under a plan contemplated by the U.S. Sentencing Commission. The independent commission is considering applying newly established crack cocaine sentencing guidelines retroactively to those sentenced prior to Nov. 1, when the guidelines took effect. In Connecticut, the retroactive proposal would mean that 57 federal inmates would be eligible for release within the first year, 87 more would be eligible for release in the following five years and another 47 after that. [continues 1405 words]
BRIDGEPORT - A former state corrections officer faces as much as 19 years in prison as well as forfeiture of $85,000 for allowing a drug dealer to store cocaine on his property. Assistant U.S. Attorney Felice Duffy accused the former prison guard, Anthony Erodici, 37, of Goldenrod Avenue, of being untruthful to the U.S. Probation Office and using cocaine at least once while free on bond. She filed court papers urging Senior U.S. District Judge Alan H. Nevas to impose a prison term within the federal sentencing guideline recommendation of 188 to 235 months. [continues 148 words]
