[420 Girl]

The legislative push began Tuesday for a Massachusetts-style law to decriminalize possession of up to an ounce of marijuana, making it punishable by a small fine and removing the lifetime stigma of a misdemeanor arrest.

Led by Senate Majority Leader Martin M. Looney, D-New Haven, the bill would save the state an estimated $11 million a year in police, court and incarceration costs and produce about $320,000 in revenue from fines.

More than a dozen people, including college students and drug-policy advocates, from throughout the state testified in favor of the legislation during an afternoon-long hearing before the powerful Judiciary Committee.

If approved by the General Assembly and signed into law by Gov. M. Jodi Rell -- who last year vetoed legislation to allow medical uses of marijuana -- Connecticut would join a dozen other states with reduced penalties for marijuana kept for personal use.

But Chief State's Attorney Kevin Kane said that there are as many as five programs that divert small-time users from state prisons and that current law essentially decriminalizes small-time possession.

Kane contested that even Looney's definition of a "small" amount of marijuana is flawed, because an ounce -- about 28 grams -- is a hefty weight among cannabis users that commands prices in the hundreds of dollars.

Looney said that he submitted the bill after an overwhelming 65 percent statewide referendum last November in Massachusetts made the penalty for less than a ounce punishable by the equivalent of a traffic violation of no more than $120.

He said that legislative researchers have found that about 3,200 arrests a year occur under the statute that makes possession of four ounces of pot a misdemeanor, so they estimated that a quarter of those would include defendants with an ounce or less.

Looney said that in Massachusetts, an estimated $30 million a year would be saved in law enforcement costs because of the referendum, so the $11 million seems a good estimate since Connecticut is less than half the size of our northern neighbor.

He said there are currently 1,300 people on probation for misdemeanor possession, so researchers estimated a $425,000 savings there. In addition, there are 57 prison inmates serving possession sentences.

In 2007, there were 9,928 misdemeanor possession arrests -- 7 percent of total arrests statewide -- and about a third of them were for amounts less than an ounce, Looney said quoting legislative staff.

Rep. Arthur O'Neill, R-Southbury, ranking member of the committee, said that it appears the state's laws for simple possession are tantamount to decriminalizing it. "It seems like we're only codifying current practice, which is almost no one goes to jail for marijuana," O'Neill said.

Sen. Toni Boucher, R-Wilton, said marijuana is a "gateway" drug that leads to narcotics.

"If we decriminalize marijuana, would that not have the effect of encouraging drug dealers?" asked Sen. John A. Kissel, R-Enfield, ranking committee member.

"I don't think it would necessarily alter consumption patterns," Looney responded. "People are either going to use the substance or not, based upon other factors in their lives, but I think what it would really do, as the people in Massachusetts were persuaded, is it will save the casual user from having a criminal record that will follow him throughout his whole life for something that is I think a very minor offense that is more properly treated as an infraction rather than a criminal violation."

James Meickle, a member of Central Connecticut State University's chapter of Students for Sensible Drug Policy, said prescription drugs are being easily diverted for recreational use that have much more potential for health damage than marijuana.

Rep. Michael P. Lawlor, D-East Haven, who teaches at the University of New Haven, said that while students are fairly routine victims of mixing pills and alcohol and end up in emergency rooms, marijuana users don't end up hospitalized.


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