TIME RUNNING OUT FOR MARIJUANA BILLS

HARTFORD -- Proponents hope amended language and a persuasive governor
will guarantee the General Assembly passes one of a pair of
controversial marijuana bills before next Wednesday's
adjournment.

"At least one of the two is going to pass," Michael Lawlor, Gov.
Dannel Malloy's criminal justice undersecretary, said Wednesday as
lawmakers worked behind the scenes to refine proposals decriminalizing
small amounts of marijuana and legalizing it for medicinal purposes.

The two bills survived the Legislative Committee process and await
action in the Senate, which must pass them on to the House of
Representatives.

"We've been under the assumption they're not coming out of the
Senate," House Majority Leader Brendan Sharkey, D-Hamden, said Wednesday.

But Lawlor and Sen. Eric Coleman, D-Bloomfield, a Judiciary Committee
chairman, were optimistic the proposals are off life support thanks to
recent changes.

Coleman said the fine for possessing less than a half-ounce of
marijuana has been increased from $99 to $200 for the first offense
and $500 for the second.

Possession of under 4 ounces is now punishable by up to a year in
prison and a $1,000 fine. Minors will also lose driving privileges for
a period of time, Coleman said.

And he said the revised medical marijuana legislation scraps the
section allowing home-grown plants, replacing it with a controlled
distribution process with four regional growers overseen by the state
Department of Consumer Protection.

State Sen. Gayle Slossberg, D-Milford, said she cannot be swayed to
back decriminalizing marijuana no matter the proposal. But state Sen.
Edith Prague, D-Colombia, said she will back the revised medical
marijuana legislation.

"I wasn't going to vote for the bill when people had plants in their
houses," she said.

Senate President Donald Williams, D-Brooklyn, who supports
decriminalization but has opposed medicinal marijuana, said, "If it's
a system treating (marijuana) like other prescription drugs, I'd be
willing to take a look." Coleman and Lawlor said that is essentially
the intent of the new language.

But Senate Minority Leader John McKinney, R-Fairfield, said federal
law prohibits efforts to truly control dispersal of medical marijuana
and treat is as a doctor-prescribed drug distributed by pharmacies.

McKinney also argues decriminalizing marijuana will increase its use
among minors, who may then turn to other dangerous substances.

"There is no big fear of getting caught. It's just an infraction,"
McKinney said.

Prague, who is on the fence about decriminalizing, said with the clock
ticking and Senate debates dragging on for hours, "I don't think we'd
be able to do two bills."

Coleman said the Malloy administration Wednesday indicated if only one
of the bills can realistically pass the Senate, the governor would
prefer to decriminalize marijuana. Coleman also said the
administration has been talking to potential swing votes.

Malloy's own family has been touched by drug use. In 2007 police
accused the governor's son, Benjamin Malloy, of being a marijuana
dealer and he entered into a probationary program that would have
wiped his record clean. But in late 2009, Benjamin was sentenced to
five years probation for trying to rob a Darien man of his marijuana
with a BB gun.

The governor has declined to discuss his son's case, but in March told
Hearst Connecticut Media Group current marijuana laws needlessly ruin
lives as part of a losing drug war.

"Let's accept reality," he said.

During a brief interview Wednesday, Tim Bannon, Malloy's chief of
staff, said, "We're still hopeful both (marijuana bills) are going to
make it out."

Asked to confirm the governor was having conversations with individual
senators about their support, Bannon said, "I'm sure he is. He's not
hesitated to reach out to legislators on bills he thinks are
important."