Tuesday, November 3 is Election Day. This year’s elections will be critical in determining whether Connecticut will finally legalize cannabis for adults 21 and older.

We’ve put together a voter guide on where the candidates stand on legalizing, regulating, and taxing cannabis for adults 21 and older. It includes responses to our candidate questionnaire, along with past public statements.

Eleven states have legalized cannabis for adults’ use, including three in the New England region. Just last week, Vermont’s governor allowed a bill to permit legal adult sales to become law, and Maine began its adult-use sales. In neighboring Massachusetts, over $150 million in tax revenue has been generated from cannabis since adult sales began in 2018. A recent Connecticut Center for Economic Analysis (CCEA) study found that Connecticut could generate $692 to $740 million in total direct state tax revenue over five years of sales, and if Connecticut legalizes cannabis and begins sales before New York and Rhode Island, sales will likely be far higher. Indeed, there is much at stake in this year’s elections for the issue of cannabis reform.

I encourage you to first look up your state legislators here. Then, check out our voter guides for Connecticut Senate races and Connecticut House races to see where the candidates stand.

After you have a chance to look at our voter guide, please spread the word. If a candidate in your district has not taken a public position, we strongly encourage you to ask them these questions yourself! We would be happy to update the voter guide with their answers; please email DeVaughn Ward with any updates.

State legislative races are often close contests that can be decided by just a few votes. Don’t miss out on a chance to decide who represents you in Hartford and will vote on Connecticut’s cannabis policy in the 2021 session.

The deadline to register to vote is October 27. Absentee ballots must be received by the local town clerk (or will not be counted) by 8 p.m. on November 3. Polls are open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.

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Next Tuesday, August 11 is Primary Election Day for the Connecticut General Assembly. This year’s election will be critical in determining whether Connecticut will finally legalize cannabis for adults 21 and older.

We’ve put together a voter guide on where the candidates stand on legalizing, regulating, and taxing cannabis for adults 21 and older. It includes responses to our questionnaire along with past public statements. Unfortunately, this year’s legalization bill stalled due to COVID.

I encourage you to first look up your state legislators by district and precinct location here. Then, check out our voter guides for Connecticut Senate races and Connecticut House races to see where the candidates stand.

After you've a chance to look at our voter guide, please spread the word. And, if your district is not listed in our voter guide, there is not a competitive primary. Check back for our voter guide leading up to the General Election.

Lastly, if a candidate in your district has not taken a public position, we strongly encourage you to ask them these questions yourself! We would be happy to update the voter guide with their answers, so please email dward@mpp.org with any updates.

State legislative races are often close contests that can be decided by just a few votes. Don’t miss out on a chance to decide who represents you in Hartford and will vote on Connecticut’s cannabis policy in the 2021 session.

Registered voters can vote in their party’s primary on August 11 between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m. — or in advance by mail-in ballot.

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Ask your lawmakers to replace marijuana prohibition with sensible, equitable regulation.

Today is the opening day of the Connecticut General Assembly. While last year’s efforts to end marijuana prohibition fell short, 2020 promises to be our best chance yet.

During Gov. Ned Lamont’s State of the State address this afternoon, he remarked, “We just marked the 100th anniversary of prohibition. How did that work out?”

He called for a coordinated regional approach to marijuana regulation to protect public heath and to “right the wrongs of a war on drugs that has disproportionately impacted our minority communities.” His budget includes new staff to prepare for legal sales in 2022.

Senate Democrats included legalization in their list of 2020 priorities, with Senate President Martin Looney saying, “We know there are very large numbers of Connecticut residents already traveling regularly to Massachusetts to buy this product... I don’t think we want to put our heads in the sand.”

Meanwhile, a recent poll found 65% of Connecticuters support legalization.

We’re ramping up our campaign. The Marijuana Policy Project hired attorney DeVaughn Ward, who will serve as co-chair of the coalition. During his years practicing law at his Hartford-based firm, he routinely represented clients who had their constitutional rights violated. Last year, DeVaughn was recognized as one of the “New Leaders in The Law” by the Connecticut Law Tribune.

But we can’t pass legalization without your support. Please write to your lawmakers today.

We also need your help to volunteer, write letters to the editor, and show up at the capitol at critical moments in the coming weeks. Please follow this link to sign up today!

We will be in touch soon to keep you in the loop on what’s happening at the capitol. This is our moment, and we need you now more than ever!

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Join coalition leaders for a lobby day and press conference at the capitol on Wednesday, May 15.

We’ve made great progress with the state legislature this year, but victory remains far from certain. The 2019 session is scheduled to end on June 5, and many representatives and senators still haven’t taken a position on the bills to legalize and regulate marijuana. According to legislative leaders who have been counting the votes, we still need to earn support from several undecided legislators in order to be sure we have majorities in both chambers.

If you are available on Wednesday, May 15, we would love to have you add your voice to our chorus of support in Hartford. Beginning at 9 a.m., we will host a legislative breakfast in the cafeteria at the Legislative Office Building (300 Capitol Avenue). After that, we will seek out our state legislators and speak to them about our support for reform efforts. At noon, we will hold a press conference.

If you are able to join us, please RSVP on Facebook.

For more details on the companion bills to legalize, regulate, and tax cannabis, you can read summaries here. Please note that although these bills have already passed committees, legislators are continuing to work on amendments, and at this point everything is subject to change.

If you haven’t already done so, please contact your state representatives and senators and urge your friends and family members to do so as well!

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Join us at 6 p.m. to learn more about what is happening in the legislature and how you can help!

The Connecticut Legislature has taken important steps to advance marijuana legalization this session, but we know that victory remains far from certain. The bills are still works in progress, and many legislators remain undecided on the issue, so it’s clear that our coalition will need to ramp up efforts in the coming weeks.

Fortunately, legislative leaders have made it clear that the issue is a priority this session. They have also indicated that they will continue to consider policy details, including the equity provisions and whether or not to allow home cultivation, before the bills receive a final vote. It’s critically important that advocates work together to maximize our chances of success in the legislature.

Please consider joining us for our first coalition meeting of the year, which will take place in Hartford on Thursday, April 18, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. This will be a great opportunity to learn more about what is happening in the state house and also to begin phone banking undecided legislators.

Here are the details:

WHO: Members of the Connecticut Coalition to Regulate Marijuana and coalition co-directors Kebra Smith-Bolden and Adam Wood

WHAT: Coalition meeting to discuss legalization efforts and volunteer phone banking operations

WHERE: The Meeting Room at Hartford Public Safety Complex (253 High St.)

WHEN: Thursday, April 18, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

If you haven’t already done so, please contact your legislators and urge them to support the legalization bills. Then, please share this message with your family and friends.

We hope you’ll be able to join us on Thursday!

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If you live in Connecticut, please contact your newly elected state legislators today and urge them to support legalizing and regulating marijuana.

Now that Connecticut has elected a pro-legalization governor, it’s clear that ending marijuana prohibition will be on the legislature’s agenda for 2019. Governor-elect Ned Lamont will be inaugurated tomorrow, January 9, and the new legislature will formally begin its work.

Contact your state legislators today and urge them to support the upcoming legalization bill!

After years of frustration for advocates, the wind in Hartford finally appears to be blowing in a great direction. Last week, House Speaker Joe Aresimowicz joined the growing chorus of support for legalization and regulation. However, we know that the prohibitionists won’t go down without a fight. Please donate to support our work and help Connecticut make history in 2019!

After you email your state legislators and make a contribution to our campaign, please share this message with your family and friends and encourage them to join the Connecticut Coalition to Regulate Marijuana!

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Recently, a petition to expand the list of qualifying conditions for Connecticut’s medical marijuana program was introduced to the Medical Marijuana Program Board of Physicians.

According to Yale Daily News:

Registered patients and medical representatives attended last Wednesday’s hearing in Hartford calling for four additional medical conditions to be legally treated through medical marijuana. Members of the public gave testimonies before the board petitioning for the recognition of each of the conditions — sickle cell disease, Tourette Syndrome, psoriasis arthritis and Post-Laminectomy Syndrome — a common issue following back surgery.

The meeting concluded with the proposal left unresolved, allowing for additional testimonies and materials to be submitted to the board before Dec. 12. Commissioner of Consumer Protection William Rubenstein said that the board’s next meeting in January will deliberate on the petitions and decide whether to add the conditions.

If the board approves these conditions, members must take further steps before the additions become formally recognized. Rubenstein noted that a letter of recommendation must be submitted by the board to the commissioner of Consumer Protection before another public hearing is held. The motion will be approved only after a regulations review by the general assembly, he said.

Having only just been implemented in September, Connecticut’s medical marijuana statute allows for members of the public to request other debilitating conditions be added to the original 11 eligible for medical marijuana. However, other states have similar policies that have already been amended to include additional medical maladies.

Now that Connecticut’s medical marijuana program is underway, the state’s lawmakers must approve the expansion of coverage so that patients with conditions that could be treated with the use of medical marijuana receive their medicine and symptomatic relief as well.

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Officials from Connecticut’s Department of Consumer Protection (DCP), which has been charged with organizing the state’s medical marijuana program, heard compelling public testimony Monday morning as the department prepares to establish rules regarding dispensary operations.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy signed a medical marijuana bill into law last May, and the state began accepting applications for medical marijuana licenses in October. Unfortunately, there are no dispensaries currently operating in the state, and it is illegal for patients to grow plants for personal use.

[caption id="attachment_6319" align="alignright" width="195"] Tracey Gamer Fanning[/caption]

This loophole has left patients like Tracey Gamer Fanning in an unnerving legal gray-zone. Tracey was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2006. The myriad medication she was prescribed left her bedridden and unable to function. This all changed when her doctor recommend she try marijuana. "It gave me my life back," she told CBS.

Despite the impact it’s had on Tracey’s cancer, every time she uses the drug she is breaking the law. Dedicating her limited time to medical-marijuana advocacy, Tracey lined up to speak at Monday’s hearing.

I want the politicians to see my face, the face of a mother from West Hartford who is just grateful to be at the dinner table in the evening instead of in bed, of someone who is so thankful to be part of her children's lives, of someone who lost an advertising career but gained a life mission.

The DCP has composed a 70-page draft of regulations that mimics the state system that controls the distribution of such pharmaceuticals as OxyContin.

MPP’s Director of State Policies, Karen O’Keefe, expressed concerns over the expense of the system of production and distribution. “The provision that requires $2 million in an escrow for producers, that’s a huge sum of money,” Karen stated. “It could edge out the little guy.” MPP has submitted suggested changes to the state regulations.

The DCP will accept written comments until Friday.

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