STATE CONSIDERS DECRIMINALIZING POT

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.

If approved by the General Assembly and signed into law by Gov. M.
Jodi Rell -- who last year vetoed legislation to allow medical uses
of marijuana -- Connecticut would join a dozen other states with
reduced penalties for marijuana kept for personal use.

But Chief State's Attorney Kevin Kane said that there are as many as
five programs that divert small-time users from state prisons and
that current law essentially decriminalizes small-time possession.

Kane contested that even Looney's definition of a "small" amount of
marijuana is flawed, because an ounce -- about 28 grams -- is a hefty
weight among cannabis users that commands prices in the hundreds of dollars.

Looney said that he submitted the bill after an overwhelming 65
percent statewide referendum last November in Massachusetts made the
penalty for less than a ounce punishable by the equivalent of a
traffic violation of no more than $120.

He said that legislative researchers have found that about 3,200
arrests a year occur under the statute that makes possession of four
ounces of pot a misdemeanor, so they estimated that a quarter of
those would include defendants with an ounce or less.

Looney said that in Massachusetts, an estimated $30 million a year
would be saved in law enforcement costs because of the referendum, so
the $11 million seems a good estimate since Connecticut is less than
half the size of our northern neighbor.

He said there are currently 1,300 people on probation for misdemeanor
possession, so researchers estimated a $425,000 savings there. In
addition, there are 57 prison inmates serving possession sentences.

In 2007, there were 9,928 misdemeanor possession arrests -- 7 percent
of total arrests statewide -- and about a third of them were for
amounts less than an ounce, Looney said quoting legislative staff.

Rep. Arthur O'Neill, R-Southbury, ranking member of the committee,
said that it appears the state's laws for simple possession are
tantamount to decriminalizing it. "It seems like we're only codifying
current practice, which is almost no one goes to jail for marijuana,"
O'Neill said.

Sen. Toni Boucher, R-Wilton, said marijuana is a "gateway" drug that
leads to narcotics.

"If we decriminalize marijuana, would that not have the effect of
encouraging drug dealers?" asked Sen. John A. Kissel, R-Enfield,
ranking committee member.

"I don't think it would necessarily alter consumption patterns,"
Looney responded. "People are either going to use the substance or
not, based upon other factors in their lives, but I think what it
would really do, as the people in Massachusetts were persuaded, is it
will save the casual user from having a criminal record that will
follow him throughout his whole life for something that is I think a
very minor offense that is more properly treated as an infraction
rather than a criminal violation."

James Meickle, a member of Central Connecticut State University's
chapter of Students for Sensible Drug Policy, said prescription drugs
are being easily diverted for recreational use that have much more
potential for health damage than marijuana.

Rep. Michael P. Lawlor, D-East Haven, who teaches at the University
of New Haven, said that while students are fairly routine victims of
mixing pills and alcohol and end up in emergency rooms, marijuana
users don't end up hospitalized.