{"id":149,"date":"2021-07-01T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-07-01T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/CAIiEIyJHYb05lbGwfKqqeXdkfUqGQgEKhAIACoHCAow8dv9CjDw5_UCMJDi1wU"},"modified":"2021-07-01T07:00:00","modified_gmt":"2021-07-01T07:00:00","slug":"how-greater-bridgeport-the-naugatuck-valley-are-handling-marijuana-legalization-ctpost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/?p=149","title":{"rendered":"How greater Bridgeport, the Naugatuck Valley are handling marijuana legalization – CTPost"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Questions abound on how to handle the legalization of marijuana in Connecticut on a local level. While officials in the greater Bridgeport area and the Naugatuck Valley are still poring over the lengthy bill, some are already drawing direct links between marijuana smoking and cigarette smoking.<\/p>\n

Others have yet to figure out what regulations make sense for their community, but worry about the impact on policing and low-income neighborhoods.<\/p>\n

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While municipalities will be allowed to limit the use of marijuana in public, those with populations over 50,000 \u2014 including Bridgeport, Stratford, Fairfield and Milford \u2014 must at least designate public smoking spaces. But Bridgeport City Councilman Marcus Brown, co-chairman of that body\u2019s ordinance committee, which recently abandoned an effort to make the city the first in Connecticut to outlaw the sale of flavored tobacco products, said he did not see the point of restricting useage.<\/p>\n

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If you can smoke cigarettes there, you should be able to smoke pot, Brown said.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIf it\u2019s legal, why restrict it? What\u2019s the point?\u201d Brown said.<\/p>\n

Others are taking a similar approach, linking cannabis usage to cigarette usage.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThere is a smoking policy currently in place, and that policy will be updated to reflect any changes necessitated by new state legislation,\u201d said John P. Marini, corporation counsel for Ansonia, adding that the city will be looking into the impact of the new legislation with its Planning and Zoning Commission and Board of Aldermen.<\/p>\n

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Stratford Chief of Staff Michael Downes also said that \u201cin general anywhere smoking cigarettes is prohibited, smoking marijuana also would be banned, so public buildings, beaches and parks.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the town council will have to address the provisions in the bill. \u201cAt this point, there are no proposals for restrictions, but the town council may address it,\u201d Downes said.<\/p>\n

Fairfield First Selectwoman Brenda Kupchick said the new legislation poses \u201cmany concerns.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said she is still waiting on guidance from the state delegation on the details of the marijuana legislation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest challenge will be how our law enforcement will be able to determine drivers who may be intoxicated while operating a vehicle,\u201d she said. \u201cI want to make it clear that the Town of Fairfield has a prohibition on all smoking at our beaches and town parks and that includes marijuana. Even before the bill’s passage I received complaints to my office regarding marijuana smoking on our beaches.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI have been meeting with the Police Department to review the bill, and better understand what our municipal obligations are,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

In Milford, public health, public safety and legal officials have formed a task force to discuss how to move forward with regulating marijuana consumption in the city.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are working with those stakeholders, as well as the community at large to develop a comprehensive plan that keeps the health and safety of our community at the forefront,\u201d said Chief of Staff Justin Rosen.<\/p>\n

Shelton will be discussing the marijuana law at a future planning and zoning meeting, after consulting its corporation counsel.<\/p>\n

Trumbull First Selectwoman Vicki Tesoro said there are still many unknowns when it comes to the law.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Department of Consumer Protection is the department that’s charged with issuing the regulations around this legislation, and they really have not done that yet,\u201d she said. \u201cSo there’s a lot of a lot of information yet to come, that we’re going to have to review and to go over and see how it affects the Town of Trumbull.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said some towns are already looking into putting moratoriums in place on the sale of marijuana and she is looking at that possibility as well \u201cjust to be able to pause for a little bit of time to see what the regulations are that DCP is going to issue so that we could decide what’s best for Trumbull.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bridgeport has incorporated the discussion of where to locate recreational marijuana stores into its ongoing re-writing of overall zoning regulations. That \u201cZone Bridgeport\u201d effort will soon involve holding public hearings on a draft of all of the changes.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo that\u2019s where (recreational marijuana) will be debated and how it will be handled,\u201d Mel Riley, chairman of the Planning and Zoning Commission, said this week.<\/p>\n

Riley said the current proposal is to treat pot sellers similarly to liquor stores and apply the same rules, such as keeping those businesses a minimum of 750 feet away from \u201csensitive uses\u201d like schools, day cares, houses of worship and hospitals.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd liquor stores have to have a special permit,\u201d Riley continued. \u201cThat gives us the decision whether we want them and where.\u201d<\/p>\n