MARIJUANA BILL GETS COMMITTEE OK

HARTFORD -- The legislative Judiciary Committee on Tuesday night
approved legislation that would end criminal penalties for possession
of small amounts of marijuana and create mail-in fines of $250. The
bill was approved 23-11 after a two-hour debate and next moves to the
state Senate.

Rep. Michael P. Lawlor, D-East Haven, co-chairman of the committee,
offered an amendment -- approved in a voice vote of the committee --
that would reduce the threshold amount from a proposed one ounce, down
to half an ounce. He said the advantage of the bill would be to save
up-front court costs -- where prosecutors would only have to pay
minimal attention and public defenders wouldn't have to get involved
- -- as well as stress on the probation system.

"If you had the ticket as an option, a lot of people would pay the
ticket and not go to court," Lawlor said.

A second amendment, offered by Rep. William A. Hamzy, R-Plymouth,
would create a $250 fine for possession, rather than the current
$35-to-$90 normally required for infractions.

"I want the penalty, but it should act as a deterrent to this type of
act, and I don't think a $35 penalty accomplishes that goal," Hamzy
said before his amendment was adopted in a voice vote.

Sen. Edwin A. Gomes, D-Bridgeport, said he didn't like the prevailing
argument that the penalty would be the equivalent of a speeding ticket.

Gomes argued that someone with a small amount of marijuana is less of
a public hazard than a speeding motorist.

"He should be fined more than someone with a half ounce of marijuana
in his pocket because he's more of a danger," Gomes said.

"I just don't understand why it's four ounces, one ounce or a single
joint. I don't support it as public policy in Connecticut," said Rep.
Themis Klarides, R-Derby.

Rep. John W. Hetherington, R-New Canaan, said lawmakers are avoiding
the over-arching issue, which is whether marijuana should be legalized
or not.

"I just think that we are begging the question about what we really
feel about the use of marijuana, and we ought to address that and not
take it up piecemeal," Hetherington said.

In a rare appearance, House Minority Leader Lawrence F. Cafero Jr.,
R-Norwalk, who has spent 16 years as an expulsion officer for his
hometown school district, implored the committee to reject the bill,
proposed by Senate Majority Leader Martin M. Looney and Sen. Toni N.
Harp, both D-New Haven. Cafero, who as an ex officio committee member
is allowed to speak but not vote, said that in the last five years
marijuana has become more prevalent compared to pills, crack cocaine
and Ecstasy in schools.

Cafero estimated that he's heard 1,600 expulsion procedures. "And the
vast majority of those cases deal with kids possessing marijuana,"
Cafero said. "The effects of marijuana on our youth and the effects it
has on our education system cannot be underestimated."

He warned lawmakers that decriminalizing cannabis would make it more
attractive to kids who might otherwise stay away from it. "What is the
message we, as a Legislature, will send to them when we decriminalize
possession of marijuana?" Cafero asked. "Are we saying it ain't that
bad anymore?"

He said that his experience is that few kids, once found with
marijuana and prosecuted, are caught again in schools. "The vast
majority of people, you catch them once, they have that negative
experience with the law, they don't do it again," Cafero said.

Gov. M. Jodi Rell indicated Tuesday night that she does not approve of
the legislation, but her office stopped short of predicting a veto if
it gets to her desk. "Whether it's a little or a lot, it's still an
illegal substance," said Chris Cooper, Rell's spokesman. "It does not
mean it will be approved by the House and Senate," he said of the
committee vote.

The bill was based on a successful statewide referendum last year in
Massachusetts that decriminalized possession of pot up to an ounce in
weight. The Legislature's nonpartisan staff has projected that the
bill could save about $11 million in diverting defendants from
criminal court, while creating about $325,000 in revenue from fines.
The legislation would not apply to youths under 18.

Currently, possession of marijuana totaling less that four ounces is a
misdemeanor. People caught in possession of drug-related
paraphernalia, including a plastic bag containing the weed, could
still be charged with a misdemeanor, under the proposed bill.

Lawlor said that police could have the discretion to charge someone
with possessing drug paraphernalia if they are caught with a single
marijuana cigarette, because of the rolling paper present. "Alcohol is
the real problem, not marijuana," said Rep. Ernest Hewett, D-New
London, who favored the bill.

"To my mind, half an ounce is less troublesome than an ounce," said
Sen. John A. Kissel, R-Enfield, ranking member of the committee.
Kissel said he understands Looney's reasons to promote the
legislation, but warned that today's marijuana is very powerful and
more alluring to children than when he was growing up in the 1970s.

"I think if we go down in this direction, we're going to regret it,"
said Kissel, who supported the medical-marijuana bill.

He said there are already many types of diversionary programs for
people busted with marijuana. "I do believe fundamentally that our
criminal justice system affects behavior," Kissel said. "A lot of
people make a mistake, but that mistake puts the fear of God in them."

Lawlor said he's never smoked pot but once gobbled marijuana-laced
brownies "on a dare" as a young law student in Washington. "I did eat
the brownies, and I had a very funny afternoon in the law library at
the Library of Congress and it was more than five years ago, so it's
past the statute of limitations," Lawlor said, laughing.

Sen. Michael A. McLachlan, R-Danbury, smiling, responded that Lawlor
must have gotten "the munchies," a desire to eat junk food while under
the influence.

"I guess when you combine it with the brownies you killed two birds
with one stone," Lawlor replied.