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A top Connecticut lawmaker said on Tuesday that the legislature is aiming to wrap up negotiations with the governor’s office on a bill to legalize marijuana by the week’s end and then take it up in the Senate “early next week.” Gov. Ned Lamont (D) also said on Monday that there’s consensus on a wide range of important issues in the reform legislation, but some details still need to be sorted out. Time is running out in the session, however, and the governor said he’s not necessarily interested in taking the issue up in a special session. To that end,…

A top Connecticut lawmaker said on Monday that he expects to reach a deal with the governor on a bill to legalize marijuana by the end of the week. For weeks, legislators have been negotiating with Gov. Ned Lamont’s (D) office on the details of the legislation, working to resolve a proposal put forward by the governor earlier this year with a separate measure favored by activists. Now an agreement appears to be imminent. “I think we have a general agreement in terms of the important issues that have been out there for most of the session, which is getting…

Portland, Oregon activists are mounting a push to have local lawmakers pass a resolution decriminalizing the cultivation, gifting and ceremonial use of a wide range of psychedelics. It’s a move that they say would fill the gap between historic statewide drug policy reform initiatives approved by voters in November. While those successful ballot measures legalized psilocybin therapy and decriminalized possession of all currently illicit drugs, the Plant Medicine Healing Alliance (PMHA) says the policies leave some important activity at risk of criminalization. The new local resolution they are asking the the City Commission to pass would make it so that…

In 2017 UConn horticulture professor Gerald Berkowitz and a group of 40 students toured the facilities of Curaleaf, one of Connecticut’s four medical marijuana producers, and picked up an interesting tidbit. “The CEO of the company was saying that he could never find any [job applicants] that had any knowledge of cannabis horticulture,” Berkowitz said. “In fact, there were no programs or anything in the country to address that.” About two years later, Berkowitz established UConn’s first cannabis horticulture course through the university’s School of Agriculture and Natural Resources. The course was immediately popular with students, some of whom have…

In 2017 UConn horticulture professor Gerald Berkowitz and a group of 40 students toured the facilities of Curaleaf, one of Connecticut’s four medical marijuana producers, and picked up an interesting tidbit. “The CEO of the company was saying that he could never find any [job applicants] that had any knowledge of cannabis horticulture,” Berkowitz said. “In fact, there were no programs or anything in the country to address that.” About two years later, Berkowitz established UConn’s first cannabis horticulture course through the university’s School of Agriculture and Natural Resources. The course was immediately popular with students, some of whom have…

With the legalization of recreational marijuana a strong possibility before the legislative session ends June 9 in Hartford, the question some cannabis experts are asking is this: Will there be enough Connecticut attorneys with an expertise to help potential clients navigate the new landscape? Observers say they believe passage is imminent this legislative session—as opposed to other years—because of support from Gov. Ned Lamont, who has presented a detailed implementation plan. The bill also cleared a major hurdle, after gaining approval from the Senate Judiciary Committee. The previous governor, Dannel Malloy, opposed legalizing recreational marijuana. New legislation could mean big business for Connecticut…

Portland, Oregon activists are mounting a push to have local lawmakers pass a resolution decriminalizing the cultivation, gifting and ceremonial use of a wide range of psychedelics. It’s a move that they say would fill the gap between historic statewide drug policy reform initiatives approved by voters in November. While those successful ballot measures legalized psilocybin therapy and decriminalized possession of all currently illicit drugs, the Plant Medicine Healing Alliance (PMHA) says the policies leave some important activity at risk of criminalization. The new local resolution they are asking the the City Commission to pass would make it so that…

Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont (D), who’s working to build support among lawmakers for his proposal to legalize marijuana, recently asked New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) how she got a legal cannabis through her state legislature this year. Lujan Grisham revealed in a new podcast interview that her Connecticut counterpart called for advice and she told him to consider decoupling legalization from related social justice proposals in order to make both easier to pass. “Putting that all in one new industry approach, I think, is problematic, and it’s one of the reasons we had to call this special session…