Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont would like to see legal cannabis in his state, both because he would like to bring more money into Connecticut, and because he hopes legalization will help end racial disparity in arrests in the state. To make this a reality, he has introduced a bill to the legislature. 

With its neighboring states embracing marijuana legalization, Connecticut is now ready to get in on the act.

The state’s governor, Ned Lamont, outlined his plan to bring recreational pot to Connecticut in his budget address on Wednesday.

In 2020, the number of states that ended pot prohibition reached 15 (and the District of Columbia), as voters in four states—Arizona, Montana, New Jersey, and South Dakota—legalized marijuana through the initiative process. Since 2021 is not an election year, any states that attempt to legalize marijuana this year will have to go through the much more cumbersome legislative process, but at least a handful of them are poised to do so.

A massive raid involving hundreds of investigators and 27 simultaneous search warrants in nine communities in Washington State has taken down an illegal weed-mailing ring based out of Seattle.

Connecticut could collect nearly $1 billion in taxes over five years if the state were to legalize recreational marijuana, according to a new University of Connecticut report.

A study by UConn’s Center for Economic Analysis estimated that in five years of recreational sales Connecticut could collect anywhere from $784 million to $952 million in new taxes, according to the Hartford Courant.

Until recently, the term “telehealth” was known in the medical community, but not the cannabis community.

Since the COVID-19 outbreak sent the country into lockdown, medical marijuana users in many states can now check in with a health care provider by video for authorization, rather than an in-person meeting.

According to MPP.org, 31 states currently allow telemedicine for cannabis patients – 11 of which have temporarily altered their laws as a result of the current coronavirus pandemic.

Faith leaders from across Connecticut converged on the state capitol recently to show their support for legalization efforts this year. The move comes on the heels of Connecticut’s legislative session starting last week. Also prompting the Feb. 18 press conference, Senate President Pro Tem Martin Looney and House Speaker Joe Aresimowicz are both filing cannabis legalization bills backed by Governor Ned Lamont during the new session. 

Although a measure to legalize marijuana last year failed to gain enough traction to become law, Governor Ned Lamont is vowing to continue the fight.

In his state of the state address this week Governor Lamont said that ending marijuana prohibition represents “an opportunity to right the wrongs of a war on drugs that has disproportionately impacted our minority communities.” The governor said that he intends to work with “neighboring states as we consider regulating marijuana for adult use.”

A proposal to legalize marijuana in Connecticut went up in smoke last year, but legislative advocates—including the state’s governor—are ready to give it another go.

In his state of the state address Wednesday, Gov. Ned Lamont said that ending the prohibition on pot represents “an opportunity to right the wrongs of a war on drugs that has disproportionately impacted our minority communities.”