NEW YORK (WCBS 880) – A bill legalizing marijuana in Connecticut has hit another roadblock as Gov. Ned Lamont threatened to veto the legislation after a last-minute amendment by the state Senate.
Going into a special legislative session, Lamont supported the carefully crafted bill to legalize recreational marijuana.
Now the governor is threatening to veto it after the state Senate passed the bill Tuesday with some changes regarding equity.
The original bill gave preference to people in communities who suffered disproportionately from police enforcement of drug laws. They would have gotten first shot at a license to grow or sell.
“The conversation about cannabis legalization also is a conversation about policing in certain communities, the way policing has happened, disproportionate contact between communities of color and police,” said Sen. Gary Winfield.
The Senate’s amendment expanded eligibility to people with a marijuana arrest record.
The change prompted a question from Sen. Dan Champagne.
“Are we taking people that have been arrested for drug dealing and giving them a better chance of getting these licenses that are made available through this bill?” Champagne asked.
Lamont’s concern is that the Senate’s change could open eligibility to many more people, even wealthy investors.
Shortly before the bill cleared the Senate on a 19-to-12 vote, during the first day of a special legislative session, Paul Mounds, Lamont's chief of staff, issued a statement promising Lamont would nix the bill if it reaches his desk in its current form.
The legislation “simply put, does not meet the goals laid out during negotiations when it comes to equity and ensuring the wrongs of the past are righted. To the contrary, this proposal opens the floodgates for tens of thousands of previously ineligible applicants to enter the adult-use cannabis industry,” Mounds said in a statement. “This last-minute amendment creates equity in name only by allowing these individuals expedited opportunity to obtain access to the marketplace.”
Mounds said the bill, which was amended twice on Tuesday, allows “just about anyone with a history of cannabis crimes” or a member of their family, regardless of their financial means, who was once arrested for possession of drugs to be considered an “equity applicant.”
Now it’s up to the House to strike a compromise on the bill. It was scheduled to take up the same legislation on Wednesday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.