LOCALLY GROWN

Connecticut's Buzz Kill

Lawmakers called it "the blunt bill."

Connecticut landed at the center of the national debate on marijuana
reform this year when two state senators from New Haven, Martin
Looney and Toni Harp, proposed decriminalizing small amounts of pot possession.

Under the bill, anyone caught with less than an ounce of weed would
have their mellow harshed with an infraction punishable by fines of
$59 to $129 rather than a misdemeanor charge that could land you a
year behind bars.

The benefits were threefold: the state would save $11 million by not
prosecuting those pot cases and get $320,000 a year from new fines;
offenders wouldn't have records permanently stained by low-level
offenses; and prosecutors and police would be freed up to work on
more urgent criminal cases.

The public liked the idea, telling pollsters by a 58-37 margin the
reform should be made law. The legislature's Judiciary Committee
passed the bill 24-14, with one Republican voting yes.

Then came the big buzz-kill: State Sen. Toni Boucher, a Wilton
Republican who took a high-profile stand against a medical marijuana
bill last year, vowed a long, drawn-out fight to block the
legislation. An incensed pot advocate from the Connecticut chapter of
the pro-legalization group NORML accidentally fired off a mildly
threatening e-mail to Boucher, getting himself arrested and dealing
the effort another setback.

Majority Democrats were split on the idea with some predicting it
wouldn't pass the House or Senate. Rell's veto of the medical pot
bill last year gave proponents additional pause. Ultimately the bill
died when the clock ran out but Connecticut came closer than ever to
passing reforms on pot policy.

Looney says the showing was impressive, noting that Massachusetts
passed the law by referendum and not through the legislature. The
fact it got through one hurdle here is meaningful, and Looney
promises to reintroduce the bill next year.

"There's no indication that Massachusetts is paralyzed in a
marijuana-induced haze," he says.