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“Our bill truly looks at a thorough accounting of the damage done by the war on drugs, which I like to refer to as the war on black and brown people,” said Rep. Robyn Porter, D-New Haven, who co-chairs of the legislature’s labor committee. “It’s not just about revenues, which in Black and brown communities, we’re calling ‘reparations’ … but it is also about making sure that as we legalize recreational cannabis, we are not creating loopholes for further criminalization.”

The governor of Connecticut released a budget request on Wednesday that includes a plan to legalize marijuana. But while the proposal places an emphasis on social equity, advocates are expressing expressing concerns about the lack of specifics so far. Gov. Ned Lamont (D), who convened an informal work group in recent months to make recommendations on the policy change, said his budget plan will involve establishing a “comprehensive framework for the cultivation, manufacture, sale, possession, use, and taxation of cannabis that prioritizes public health, public safety, and social justice.” “The proposal builds on the significant work that the Legislature has…

Washington, D.C. lawmakers on Friday held a joint hearing on a pair of bills to authorize the legal sale of recreational marijuana and significantly expand the existing medical cannabis program in the nation’s capital. The District Council’s Committee of the Whole, along with the Judiciary and Public Safety and Business and Economic Development Committees, took testimony from about 100 people on the legislation over the course of several hours. They heard numerous recommendations on the legalization proposal, ranging from enhancing social equity provisions to ensuring that medical cannabis patients continue to have access to their medicine to establishing regulations for…

“In other states, when they’ve attempted to do this, although they had good intentions, it didn’t work out the way they thought it would work out,” Winfield said. “There’s a lot of conversation about if we don’t get this part right then we shouldn’t do it until we get it right. So it may actually be a stumbling block, although it doesn’t seem like it should.’’

Missouri voters may see a multiple marijuana initiatives on the state’s 2022 ballot, with a new group filing an adult-use legalization proposal on Friday that could compete with separate reform measures that are already in the works. Legal Missouri 2022 submitted the latest measure to the secretary of state’s office, and it will now go through a review period before being potential certified. The initiative would make it so adults 21 and older could purchase, possess and cultivate cannabis for personal use. Regulators would be tasked with developing rules to set possession limits, but they would need to allow adults…

Missouri voters may see a multiple marijuana initiatives on the state’s 2022 ballot, with a new group filing an adult-use legalization proposal on Friday that could compete with separate reform measures that are already in the works. Legal Missouri 2022 submitted the latest measure to the secretary of state’s office, and it will now go through a review period before being potential certified. The initiative would make it so adults 21 and older could purchase, possess and cultivate cannabis for personal use. Regulators would be tasked with developing rules to set possession limits, but they would need to allow adults…

Advocates say 2021 will be the year Connecticut finally approves the legal recreational use of marijuana by adults. State lawmakers had argued legalization would go against federal law. But a landmark vote in the U.S. House of Representatives to remove marijuana from the list of controlled substances gives advocates a boost.  The U.S. House voted to regulate and tax cannabis sales for the first time earlier this month. There is no indication that the U.S. Senate would take action, but that has not dampened the optimism of advocates like Fred Carstensen. “We are going to get federal decriminalization and effective…