NORML is pleased to announce that Senate Bill 349, an act to reclassify the possession of minor amounts of marijuana from a misdemeanor to an infraction, has been referred to the Joint Committee on Judiciary.
Under state law, the first-time possession of small amounts of marijuana is punishable by up to one year in jail and a $1000 fine. Senate Bill 349 would amend Connecticut law so that adults who possess one ounce of marijuana or less will be issued tickets and assessed a nominal fine in lieu of criminal charges.
NORML is also pleased to announce that House Bill 5175, an act to exempt qualified medical cannabis patients from state arrest and prosecution, has been referred to the Joint Committee on Judiciary as well.
The medical marijuana debate is a familiar one Connecticut. The Connecticut State Nurses Association has gone on record supporting patients’ “safe access to therapeutic marijuana,” and in 2007 the Connecticut legislature also backed the medical use of marijuana under appropriate supervision – only to have this measure vetoed by the Governor. With your assistance, we hope top make 2009 the year Connecticut becomes the fourteenth state to legalize the medical use of cannabis.
Please take a moment today to contact your elected officials and urge them to support SB 349 and HB 5175. You can also contact the Judiciary Committee here. A pre-written letter for each bill is provided after the break.
SUBJECT: Please Support Senate Bill 349
I’m writing to urge your support for Senate Bill 349, which seeks to reclassify the possession of minor amounts of marijuana from a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail and a $1000 fine to a fine-only infraction.
According to a report published by the Connecticut Law Review Commission, ”The legislature should review and further consider as a strategy option establishing the offense of infraction for adults twenty-one years of age or older who possess one ounce or less of marijuana.” The Commission stated that enacting this policy would greatly reduce state expenses, and would have “virtually no effect” on the use of marijuana, alcohol, or other drugs in Connecticut.
Senate Bill 349 is strongly supported by the public. In November, 65 percent of voters in Massachusetts endorsed a similar statewide initiative reclassifying marijuana possession as a fine-only offense under state law. To date, thirteen states — including Nebraska, Ohio, Maine, and Mississippi – have enacted marijuana decriminalziation laws. Passage of this legislation in these states has not led to increased marijuana use or altered the public’s perceptions regarding the potential harms of drug use.
In fact, the only U.S. government study ever commissioned to assess whether the enforcement of strict legal penalties positively impacts marijuana use found, “Overall, the preponderance of the evidence which we have gathered and examined points to the conclusion that decriminalization has had virtually no effect either on the marijuana use or on related attitudes and beliefs about marijuana use among American young people.”
Senate Bill 349 is a common sense, fiscally responsible proposal that will cut costs without altering the publics’ attitudes or use of marijuana. I urge you to vote yes on SB 349.
SUBJECT: Please support our patients: Yes on House Bill 5175
I’m writing to urge your support for House Bill 5175.
This bill seeks to enact statewide legal protections shielding those seriously ill patients who use cannabis therapeutically with a doctor’s recommendation from criminal prosecution. At the same time, it will not alter or interfere with already existing state laws discouraging the non-medical, recreational use of marijuana.
The use of marijuana as medicine is a public health issue; it should not be part of the war on drugs. According to a recent national survey of U.S. physicians conducted for the American Society of Addiction Medicine, nearly half of all doctors with opinions support legalizing cannabis as a medicine. Some 80 state and national health care organizations, including the American Nurses Association, American Public Health Association and The New England Journal of Medicine, support immediate, legal patient access to medical cannabis.
Most recently, the largest association of doctors of internal medicine and the second largest medical association in the country, the American College of Physicians, released a policy paper in support of medical cannabis, stating, “The ACP strongly urges protection from criminal or civil penalties for patients who use medical marijuana as permitted under state laws.”
Locally, the Connecticut State Nurses Association has gone on record supporting patients’ “safe access to therapeutic marijuana.” In 2007, the Connecticut legislature also backed the medical use of marijuana under appropriate supervision, only to have this measure vetoed by the Governor.
Thirteen states – Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington - have enacted laws protecting medical marijuana patients from state prosecution. These laws are operating primarily as lawmakers intended and have not led to widespread abuses among adolescents or adult recreational users.
I believe it is unconscionable to deny this effective medicine to sick and dying patients. I strongly urge you to support the medical use of marijuana in Connecticut and to vote ‘yes’ on HB 5175.
I believe that once one has tried it & liked it… is hooked. I will never ever stop. I love the way it makes me feel. It’s way better than Alchohol or regular cigarettes. It also helps me to relax and handle the stresses of everyday life and it also helps to enhance my sex drive. Boy O Boy…. Gimme some more!!! I don’t think the law is gonna win this one. Good luck jerks!!!
FINALLY!! i don’t get why the entire country doesn’t just make it totally legal…enforcing pot laws are such an enormous waste of spending for god’s sake. our criminal justice system has a lot bigger problems to deal with than a little pot. so ridiculous. let’s stop the wastefulness and hypocrisy (at least half of the entire population has smoked pot)
I am with you docs got me on huge doses of percocet, liver is suffering and last time i ran out ( doc on vaca and noone else in practice would prescribe a narc to another docs paitent) the withdrawl was as bad as the pain!
Does anyone know what illnesses will be covered under the medicinal marijuana bill in CT?
Every reason you have listed above are reasons why it will not ever become legal with the current system. Big business doesn’t have any investment in cannabis, the companies which control the stock in both lumber and oil also have the power to influence the lawmakers in our society. Money for those at the top far overpowers the wishes of those seeking positive change, for not just a select few, but for the betterment of the whole nation. I am a cannabis smoker, and i smoke it to replace the drugs that have once been prescribed to me; risperidone, xanax, kalonapin. Now look up the amount of people who have overdosed on these drugs and compare that to weed. Look at the number of people who abuse many different medications. I have never heard of a man smoking a joint, then coming home and beating his wife, yet thousands of women are abused by their drunk husbands daily. There are more potheads, people who smoke cannabis habitually, and are functioning members of society than any other legal and illegal “drug” . Its interesting how we have allowed drugs that carry with them the side affect of death, yet cannot legalize a plant which has the ability to operate in the same way these man made substances has. Long story short, money is the root of evil. Pot will never be legal because it will take money away from those who already have an immense amount. And unless we as a people make a stand for what we believe in, we will stay this way forever.
“Be the change you wish to see in the world”- Ghandi
Has anyone ever really notices that not one person who is against the legalization of marijuana has a factual, impressive, well thought out answer as to WHY they believe it should stay illegal? I watched a documentary on marijuana last night, and honestly, I laughed. If you read everyone’s comments on this page, you will see that they have very insightful, well thought out reasons as to why it should be decriminalized. They have the hard facts, black and white, that we blow billions of dollars arresting normal people for possessing a plant that could eventually save our economy. Not only will it save us money in the judicial system, but it would also lower our gas problems (cannabis have methane in it, easily used for oil.) Hemp could take the place of cutting down those millions of trees we need and be used for paper and other products. Marijuana use would increase jobs in the market, decreasing unemployement, and just in general make this state a little more barrable to live in.
Now, notice that even in this little comment box, I am able to come up with valid reasons as to why marijuana could potentially help our economy. And yet, when asked why marijuana should be kept illegal, the only answer I have ever heard from people’s mouths were “It is a drug, it leads to dangers drug use and it is stupid.” Really? Applause to you, wow. That is such a convincing agrument. It is SO stupid saving billions of dollars and creativing new jobs and new opportunities for citizens. I am pretty sure also, that Marijuana is a stage 1 drug, while COCAINE is a stage 2 drug…. so you are telling me that cocaine use could lead to marijuana use? GOOD! Maybe those who are blown out coke heads will smoke and realize they do not need that dirty crap and could get by in life just smoking a plant.
a PLANT! Even religious people cannot fight the fact that this is nature, it is grown from our own earth and was put here by God for a reason! Why not find out what that reason is!? People should not be thrown into prison with rapists and killers for carrying around and smoking a plant. It would be silly for someone to get arrested for carrying around dandelions wouldn’t it? What makes marijuana any different?
Support decriminalization! Let’s see what this plant has to offer us!
LEGALIZE IT!!!! CHECK OUT REDMAN COSIGN CT HIPHOP ARTIST BIGSTAT
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bCSEYPyIeg
http://www.bigstatmusic.com
If you live in Connecticut and want weed legal got to this website
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/legalizecannabisconnecticut/
I need it for pain !!! Better then being a junkie on the so called safe prescription pill
I have been on for five years … That are going to kill me one day… have to do it for medical
Reasons at lest !!! I say smoke up better for my pain anyway ..