State to reduce penalty for possession of small amount of marijuana
Jun 6, 2011 Online Issue
Possession of less than half an ounce of marijuana may soon no longer be a crime in Connecticut.
While the State House of Representatives has yet to vote on it, the Senate passed a bill Saturday that would reduce the penalty for possessing up to half an ounce of marijuana from a crime to an infraction carrying a fine. After Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman, as president of the Senate, broke an 18–18 vote to carry the bill through, Gov. Dannel Malloy hailed it in a press release as an example of “common sense reforms to our criminal justice system.”
While the bill’s opponents in the Senate argued that decriminalizing marijuana sends the wrong message, proponents stressed the damage that young people can incur from a criminal record.
“We are acknowledging the reality that we are doing more harm than good when we prosecute people who are caught using marijuana — needlessly stigmatizing them in a way we would not if they were caught drinking underage, for example, and disproportionately affecting minorities,” Malloy said in the release.
Read the rest of this entry »
People, not politicians, should guide marijuana law
May 2, 2011 Online Issue
Thank you to Gov. Brian Schweitzer for having the courage to recognize the will of the people and veto House Bill 161. I do not hold a card allowing me to use medical cannabis, but as a cancer survivor, allergic to opiates, I face an uncertain future, and it is reassuring to know that should the need arise I will be able to obtain the best alternative medication available to help me in my struggle with this disease.
I, along with many other citizens, believe that the medical cannabis industry needs to be more strictly regulated, but taking the profit motive from the providers is absurd. Would Pfizer continue to manufacture Viagra if they had to dispense it for free? I think not. The growers and providers of this product are for the most part honest, hardworking and law-abiding people, much like the average farmer who has employees, pays wages and taxes, and strives to deliver the highest-quality product possible.
The medical cannabis law was passed by the people, and it should be regulated by the people. I propose a committee, appointed by Schweitzer, and made up of persons from all sides of the political spectrum, young and old, healthy and ill, religious and not. Given the opportunity, these ordinary citizens should be able to work out a common sense set of regulations that will benefit everyone and harm none.
Please, don’t let the politicians get their hands on this, as they will play their partisan games and screw it up just like they do everything else.
Again, I salute Schweitzer’s courage.
SOURCE: billingsgazette.com
Tags: House Bill 161, Marijuana Law
From the bench: Marijuana law constantly shifting
Oct 25, 2009 Online Issue
Cases clogging local courtsMarijuana cases are not the only criminal cases coming into the Mendocino County Superior Court, but they seem to 
be taking up the most time and resources, say local judges.
Marijuana cases are about a quarter of the criminal caseload Judge Richard Henderson sees in Mendocino County Superior Court.
And he believes that the local district attorneys and defense attorneys do a good job of handling them.
Henderson – who has been working the criminal bench here for about two years after a stint in the Willits court and a year in arraignment court – splits the criminal case calendar with Judge Ron Brown, a former public defender.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Marijuana Law
