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veggie

Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 17,504
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Governor of Connecticut calls for marijuana decriminalization
#14119031 - 03/14/11 11:58 AM (12 years, 10 months ago) |
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Malloy says it's time to decriminalize minor marijuana use March 12, 2011 - Stamford Advocate
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy decided a long time ago that possession of small amounts of marijuana should not be treated as a criminal offense.
He wants Connecticut to join him.
"Let's accept reality," Malloy said in an interview last week.
The Democratic governor's plan to reduce the penalty for possession of less than an ounce of marijuana from a crime to an infraction that carries a fine is the subject of a public hearing Monday before the Legislature's Judiciary Committee.
Possession of under four ounces is punishable by up to a year in prison and a $1,000 fine. Malloy envisions a $100 fine.
The Judiciary Committee approved a similar proposal in 2009 in a 24-to-14 vote. But then-Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell was certain to veto it, so the measure never came up for a full vote in the General Assembly.
For Malloy -- a one-time assistant district attorney in New York City and Stamford's former mayor -- the current approach needlessly ruins lives and is an illogical front in a losing drug war.
"We don't really criminalize alcoholic offenses, by and large, driving while intoxicated aside," Malloy said, referring particularly by under-age drinking. "We handle that very differently than marijuana and we end up stigmatizing kids, creating records and doing things to young people that in the end aren't in their best interests. We start people down a criminal chain," Malloy said.
Malloy also believes minor marijuana arrests disproportionately impact minorities who cannot afford attorneys. "There it takes on this racial aspect," Malloy said.
"I'm in some sense trying to level the playing field."
Malloy's own family has been touched by drug use. In 2007, police accused Benjamin Malloy of being a marijuana dealer, and he entered into a probationary program that would have wiped his criminal record clean. But in late 2009, Benjamin was sentenced to five years probation for trying to rob a Darien man of his marijuana while armed with a BB gun.
Malloy declined to discuss his son's case with Hearst Connecticut Media.
POLL SHOWS SUPPORT
If the governor's plan were to become law, Connecticut would join 13 other states, including New York, Massachusetts and California, that have decriminalized first-time, personal consumption of marijuana, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Rhode Island is considering a similar route.
Michael Lawlor, who voted for the 2009 decriminalization bill as a Judiciary Committee co-chairman, is now Malloy's undersecretary for criminal justice policy.
He said lawmakers have been trying to focus limited law enforcement resources on violent crimes. In 2009, the estimated savings from not prosecuting minor marijuana possession was $11 million.
"Very few people actually go to jail (for possessing small amounts of marijuana). But they do go to court. And there's a very routine sequence of events for someone who has either no criminal record or a minor record," Lawlor said. "They all involve probation, reporting, continuances, more court dates down the road ... Routinely people end up with the charges getting dismissed after jumping through a bunch of hoops. This option allows the officer on the scene to eliminate all of that."
A Quinnipiac University poll released last week said respondents support decriminalizing small amounts of marijuana 65 to 32 percent, up from 58 percent support in 2009.
OPENING FLOODGATES?
But the governor faces challenges from the law enforcement community. Lawlor said he believes police will appreciate the option of issuing a fine, but a representative from the Connecticut Council of Police, which represents nearly 4,000 officers, did not return calls seeking comment.
The legislation is opposed by the Connecticut Police Chiefs Association and also Chief State's Attorney Kevin Kane.
Perhaps one of Malloy's biggest obstacles to passage will be testimony presented by individuals like Ginger Katz. Founder of the Norwalk-based Courage to Speak Foundation, Katz lost her 20-year-old son, Ian, in 1996 to a drug overdose. She argues marijuana is a gateway drug for youths to experiment with other narcotics. "Marijuana opened up the floodgates for my son," Katz said. "If we put a $100 slap-on-the-wrist to these kids just beginning to use marijuana ... the perception the kids would have would be, `Oh, it's no big deal.'"
Redding Police Chief Douglas Fuchs, who will lead the police chiefs association in June, agreed.
"You have 17, 18, 19 and 20 year olds who could then see the use of marijuana as being OK," Fuchs said. "Those same youths who cannot buy alcohol, we're making it easier for them to buy marijuana."
Malloy dismisses the gateway drug argument, again pointing out he does not see the logic in criminalizing small amounts of marijuana while cases of underage drinking do not result in criminal records. "Alcohol is the original gateway drug," he said.
NOT HIS TOP PRIORITY
The governor also argues the same "don't use drugs" message can be sent under his decriminalization plan. Parents and guardians will still find out about a ticket and be able to mete out punishment, he said.
"It's enough to say it's a violation to do it ... for activity you'd have to put your head in a hole to deny it's widespread."
Although Malloy feels strongly about his decriminalization proposal, the governor said with a $3.2 billion deficit to plug, he is not going to waste significant amounts of political capital on the bill.
"I believe this. I'm more than happy to speak about it," Malloy said. "But I've got some big fish to fry right now."
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realfuzzhead



Registered: 03/03/10
Posts: 10,783
Loc: above the smog layer
Last seen: 1 year, 2 months
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Re: Governor of Connecticut calls for marijuana decriminalization [Re: veggie]
#14119318 - 03/14/11 12:59 PM (12 years, 10 months ago) |
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If legalization is an elephant we're trying to eat, Prop 19 was eaiting too big of a bite then throwing it back up, and this is a nice sized tasty bite of the ribs. 
one bite at a time ladies and gentleman, Im enjoying every bite
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Rebirtha
I really like bread




Registered: 09/22/03
Posts: 5,680
Loc: over there
Last seen: 3 years, 19 days
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Re: Governor of Connecticut calls for marijuana decriminalization [Re: realfuzzhead]
#14119347 - 03/14/11 01:05 PM (12 years, 10 months ago) |
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Am I having deja vu or did this happen already?
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veggie

Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 17,504
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Re: Governor of Connecticut calls for marijuana decriminalization [Re: veggie]
#14123794 - 03/15/11 06:07 AM (12 years, 10 months ago) |
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Marijuana decriminalization bill gets mixed review March 15, 2011 - Wall Street Journal
HARTFORD, Conn. — Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's push to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana, which would make Connecticut law consistent with that of neighboring New York and Massachusetts, received mixed reviews on Monday.
Malloy included the decriminalization proposal in a package of bills aimed at reducing the state's prison population, making the criminal justice system more cost-effective and focusing resources on repeat violent and serious offenders. Under the proposal, someone caught with less than one ounce of marijuana would be charged with an infraction and $100 fine instead of a misdemeanor.
The state's top prosecutor, Chief State's Attorney Kevin Kane, told the General Assembly's Judiciary Committee that he doesn't believe it would be a money-saver for his office.
"The reality is, people do not go to jail for possession of small quantities of marijuana. It doesn't happen without aggravating factors," Kane told lawmakers.
He said the legislation could send the message that the state of Connecticut tolerates marijuana. He also pointed out how the bill makes no distinction between adults and minors possessing the drug, and creates no limit on the number of infractions that someone could receive for possessing marijuana.
Kane said records were not available for possession of less than one ounce of marijuana, but there are currently 31 cases in which the Department of Correction considers possession of four ounces of marijuana to be someone's primary offense. In each instance, there were other charges pending, such as possession of weapons, lengthy records or a plea agreement that reduced the charge to possession of marijuana, he said.
Col. Danny R. Stebbins, acting Department of Public Safety commissioner, said Malloy's proposal would save the state millions of dollars at a time when resources are scarce.
"While the state has been spending millions in arrests, prosecution and post-conviction probation for small amounts of marijuana, it has been failing to fund necessary staffing for DNA analysis that will solve cold cases and bring to justice the state's most violent criminals," he said.
Michael Lawlor, Malloy's undersecretary of justice policy and planning at the Office of Policy and Management, said figures from the General Assembly's Office of Fiscal Analysis show that in 2009 there were 8,118 arrests statewide for possession of marijuana. In 2,700 of those cases, possession of marijuana was the only charge and 75 percent of those involved less than one ounce of the substance.
He said the Office of Adult Probation supervised 1,090 probationers for misdemeanor possession of marijuana, which is punishable by a $1,000 fine and up to one year in prison.
"There is no question that these resources could have been more effectively utilized for convicting, incarcerating and supervising violent and more serious offenders," Lawlor wrote in written testimony to the committee.
Malloy, a Democrat, has also proposed expanding the types of sentences that certain offenders could receive. For example, someone charged for the first time with operating a motor vehicle while under the influence could face a 90-day license suspension followed by nine months of limited driving using an ignition interlock device. Current law requires a one-year license suspension.
Those offenders sentenced to a mandatory prison term for driving while under the influence of drugs or alcohol, under Malloy's proposal, could be sentenced to home confinement, monitored with GPS technology and subjected to alcohol-consumption monitoring. The option would also be made available for people charged with misdemeanor drug offenses, such as possession of less than four ounces of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Malloy's plan would also allow the Department of Correction commissioner to award "Risk Reduction Credits" to inmates who follow the prison's rules, participate in programs that will help them successfully reintegrate into the community, comply with their personal accountability plans and volunteer for causes, such as the inmates who recently volunteered to shovel out fire hydrants and fill sand bags following winter storms.
Leo Arnone, the DOC commissioner, said Malloy's concept is different from the so-called "statutory good time" program the prisons agency used prior to 1995.
"That good time was just handed to inmates because they were alive," he said. "It had really no stipulations on it, it was all just mandatory. We could take it away, which was very helpful for discipline and management of the facilities, but as far as giving it, it was all automatic."
Also Monday, the Judiciary Committee heard testimony on two bills, including one proposed by Malloy, that would allow for the medical use of marijuana in Connecticut. Malloy's bill, similar to the one former Gov. M. Jodi Rell vetoed in 2007, would prohibit the arrest and prosecution of patients who use the drug and are qualified and have registered with the state to use marijuana to ease the effects of their medical conditions.
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