Allan Appel Photo
Connecticut should see how its own experiment with marijuana laws turns out instead of rushing to follow Colorado and Washington to legalize it outright, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said Wednesday.
Malloy (at center in photo, with New Haven state Sen. Martin Looney to his right), who’s running for reelection, made the remark in response to a question during yet another press event in New Haven, promoting solar energy at Quality Honda.
He was asked the question as one of the candidates seeking to replace him, independent Jonathan Pelto, called in an Independent interview for legalizing marijuana. He argued decriminalization has made matters worse for urbandwellers; click here to read his reasoning.
“I’m not ready to go down that road,” Malloy, a Democrat, said Wednesday.
“I think Connecticut’s been a leader in our approach to marijuana. In my first legislative session I convinced the legislature to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana. I’m very proud of that. It’s had a massive impact on our judicial system, making it far mroe efficient. And then subsequently we were able to win the battle on medical marijuana, which will probably begin to be sold some time in September, is what I’m being told.
“We’ve pushed the dialogue nationally in the direction we’ve pushed it. Other folks are pushing it in a different direction.”
He added that future decisions about marijuana laws should never hinge on “economic concerns” — i.e. the flood of revenue government can capture by taxing legalized cannabis.
A spokesman for Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Foley said Foley also opposes legalization. So did fellow Republican candidate John McKinney and independent Joe Visconti. The following videos show Pelto, MckInney and Visconti addressing the issue in Independent interviews.
Allan Appel reported.