Governor of Connecticut Pushes For Legalizing Adult-Use Cannabis In Budget Address

With its neighboring states embracing marijuana legalization, Connecticut is now ready to get in on the act. And his call for Connecticut to end prohibition comes a month after New York’s own Democratic governor, Andrew Cuomo, offered up his own legalization proposal. The state’s governor, Ned Lamont, outlined his plan to bring recreational pot to Connecticut in his budget address on Wednesday. “Now our neighboring states are offering recreational marijuana on a legal and regulated basis,” Lamont, a Democrat, said in a pre-recorded address. “Massachusetts dispensaries are advertising extensively here in Connecticut. The patchwork of cannabis and vaping laws are impossible to enforce.” Under Lamont’s proposal unveiled this week, adult use cannabis sales would begin in May 2022. And importantly, my proposed legislation authorizes the automated erasure of criminal records for those with marijuana-related drug possession, convictions, and charges.” As Lamont noted, Massachusetts voters passed a measure legalizing recreational marijuana for adults in 2016.