Trip to Hartford!

Good Morning Everyone!

It’s almost time for a trip to Hartford. Finally, the weather is starting to feel like winter around here in Connecticut.  Last week, it was easy to decide to stay inside, medicate, and watch a movie after shoveling out from the snow.  Next week, regardless of the weather if you can, you should join the Dabbin Dad crew in Hartford to execute your civil rights.  Let your State Representatives know how you feel concerning HB 5314, an act concerning the regulation and taxation of the retail sale and cultivation of marijuana for use by persons twenty-one years of age or older.

The hearing is set to happen in Hartford, CT.  The exact date and time is soon to be announced, but is slated between February 22-24, 2017.

I’ve lived in Connecticut for the majority of my life.  After my military service, I returned to Connecticut to start my family be close to loved ones.  The state has never truly rebounded from the economic recession for many, we are inevitably faced with future tax hikes on all levels in order to correct the deficit.  There has been rumors of building toll booths on our already congested highways as well as a way to generate new state income.  Cannabis can create jobs, tax revenues, and stimulate the economy here in Connecticut.

As cannabis patients, we have all witnessed how it can help medicinally and probably have seen the recreational aspect as well.  Cannabis is not the devil’s lettuce, some would like to portray it as.  The potential for abuse, is not an excuse for keeping the plant illegal.  People can abuse anything, just look at America’s dependency on prescription opiates and barbiturates.  You can even argue someone can abuse anything.  Alcohol and tobacco, both legal, are known to be hazardous and kill people each and every year.  There are no known deaths caused by consuming cannabis.

Please help us in educating our representatives.  Voice your thoughts on grow-rights, legalization, and retail sale of cannabis.  Legalization with grow-rights is only to a patient’s benefit.  Cannabis offered in the state program is expensive and is not covered by medical insurance, the state should give the patient the option to grow. The state should allow an open market for cannabis, not only for the revenues, but for the patient’s right to medicine at a fair price.

HB 5314

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:

That the general statutes be amended to (1) provide for the retail sale and personal cultivation of marijuana for use by persons twenty-one years of age or older, (2) require the Department of Consumer Protection to establish and administer such adult-use program in a manner that maintains palliative use as a separate program, (3) require the Department of Consumer Protection to allow the growth of up to six marijuana plants per adult for personal use, but not more than twelve such plants per household, (4) require the Department of Revenue Services to establish and administer a tax structure that will provide revenue to the General Fund, Budget Reserve Fund and certain municipalities, (5) require enhanced protections and penalties for licensed employees of licensed marijuana facilities and comprehensive safety and security plans for each such facility, (6) maintain existing penalties for marijuana use for those under twenty-one years of age, and (7) require any agency regulations necessary to implement the provisions of this act to be submitted to the Legislative Regulations Review committee for review no later than October 1, 2017.

Statement of Purpose:

To require the Department of Consumer Protection to establish and administer a program by which persons twenty-one years of age or older may legally purchase and cultivate marijuana and to require the Department of Revenue Services to establish and administer a tax structure that will provide revenue to the General Fund, Budget Reserve Fund and certain municipalities.

Please get to know the Public Health Committee:

Do you want HB 5314 updates?  Please reference here.