did CONNECTICUT just legalize marijuana?

Connecticut House of Representatives approves medical marijuana bill
After years of effort, Connecticut’s medical marijuana patients may finally get the protection they deserve. On April 25, the Connecticut House of Representatives voted 96-51 to approve An Act Concerning the Palliative Use of Marijuana, HB 5389. The bill now heads to the full Senate, which adjourns on May 9.
We’re thrilled Connecticut may soon become the 17[SUP]th[/SUP] medical marijuana state, but are concerned the bill may not be workable. Please write your senator to ask him or her to support and amend HB 5389 to ensure that patients are truly protected.
HB 5389 would only allow patients to obtain marijuana from dispensaries, which in turn could only obtain marijuana from licensed producers. Only pharmacists could apply to operate dispensaries, but it is possible no pharmacist would do so because dispensing marijuana is against federal law. Connecticut’s federal prosecutor, David Fein, said he may prosecute or enjoin dispensaries. In addition, producers would have to pay a $25,000+ non-refundable application fee and have $2 million in escrow in a financial institution. These high hurdles make it possible that no one would apply to operate dispensaries or be producers, leaving patients without access to their medicine. In addition to fixing these obstacles, patients should be given the option of cultivating marijuana, especially if there are no operational dispensaries at the time.
Please write your senator and be sure to sign up for MPP’s email alerts so we can keep you posted on the medical marijuana campaign.

have to wait till may 9th to find out im guessing??

dk420 said:

Last Update: April 26, 2012​

Connecticut House of Representatives approves medical marijuana bill
After years of effort, Connecticut’s medical marijuana patients may finally get the protection they deserve. On April 25, the Connecticut House of Representatives voted 96-51 to approve An Act Concerning the Palliative Use of Marijuana, HB 5389. The bill now heads to the full Senate, which adjourns on May 9.
We’re thrilled Connecticut may soon become the 17[SUP]th[/SUP] medical marijuana state, but are concerned the bill may not be workable. Please write your senator to ask him or her to support and amend HB 5389 to ensure that patients are truly protected.
HB 5389 would only allow patients to obtain marijuana from dispensaries, which in turn could only obtain marijuana from licensed producers. Only pharmacists could apply to operate dispensaries, but it is possible no pharmacist would do so because dispensing marijuana is against federal law. Connecticut’s federal prosecutor, David Fein, said he may prosecute or enjoin dispensaries. In addition, producers would have to pay a $25,000+ non-refundable application fee and have $2 million in escrow in a financial institution. These high hurdles make it possible that no one would apply to operate dispensaries or be producers, leaving patients without access to their medicine. In addition to fixing these obstacles, patients should be given the option of cultivating marijuana, especially if there are no operational dispensaries at the time.
Please write your senator and be sure to sign up for MPP’s email alerts so we can keep you posted on the medical marijuana campaign.

have to wait till may 9th to find out im guessing??

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Have to wait till may 9th to find out for sure, sounds like kind of a pain in the ass setup, regarding Pharmacists. Also the title is a bit misleading I was like "O.O First state in the nation to LEGALIZE?" but really this is legalizing MEDICAL Marijuana. Though I guess the forum it's under should of hinted at that too.

Daxus said:

Have to wait till may 9th to find out for sure, sounds like kind of a pain in the ass setup, regarding Pharmacists. Also the title is a bit misleading I was like "O.O First state in the nation to LEGALIZE?" but really this is legalizing MEDICAL Marijuana. Though I guess the forum it's under should of hinted at that too.

Click to expand...

lol sorry if it is misleading, everytime i mention legal marijuana im always referring to medical marijuana due to it the only weed legal (for now) lol. but yeah it does seem like a pain in the ass with the Pharmacists, but then again CT its self is a pain in the ass. guess we have to wait and see what happens.

In other words, the State is going to vote on a bill that will legalize MMJ on paper, but in practice, make it virtually impossible for any to actually be produced or sold in the State.

I guess that's a "start". Maybe the bill can be marked up in the Senate with improvements then reconciled with the House version. That could turn out ok, assuming it actually can pass the Senate. I don't know if that's likely to be the case or not.

we'll it's flawed for sure,I thought the ability to give out prescriptions was issued by the dea(for pain killers and stuff) and they dont like medical mj so how will pharmacists work into this dispensry situation?(isn't that way you get a recommendation from your dr. not a rx?)hope it works out I like connecticut and plus it'd be a tremendously massive F'you to pfiser(and the gross trade one illness for another few pill cycle that tyranicly looks the pockets of our nations sick and injured)

also just another quick little side note. I hope everyone here from CT is wise enough to not re-elect idiots like the north haven rep. that seems to feel fed. law trumps state...IT DOES F'ING NOT!states have the right to govern themselves and the feds backward asses know it thats why they get jackasses like the north haven rep to say stupid shit like that in the hopes you'll just nod your head and agree without thinking because he's "offical" he has to know the deal right?i mean he must be looking out for our best intrests....not

Jogro said:

In other words, the State is going to vote on a bill that will legalize MMJ on paper, but in practice, make it virtually impossible for any to actually be produced or sold in the State.

I guess that's a "start". Maybe the bill can be marked up in the Senate with improvements then reconciled with the House version. That could turn out ok, assuming it actually can pass the Senate. I don't know if that's likely to be the case or not.

Click to expand...

sounds like they are modeling their system after the very effective mmj act in new jersey..
dripping with sarcasm of course..

Jogro said:

In other words, the State is going to vote on a bill that will legalize MMJ on paper, but in practice, make it virtually impossible for any to actually be produced or sold in the State.

I guess that's a "start". Maybe the bill can be marked up in the Senate with improvements then reconciled with the House version. That could turn out ok, assuming it actually can pass the Senate. I don't know if that's likely to be the case or not.

Click to expand...

sounds like they are modeling their system after the very effective mmj act in new jersey..
dripping with sarcasm of course..

so any news on what rules the bill has (plant restrictions,amounts,qualifying conditions)?

If it passes, there will be pharmacists in line to be "care givers". Legalize and No Tax since it hurts and harms nobody and creates no public burden.

i hope so,thought thats where the hangup would be

Supposedly it passed but I'm trying to read this and my head hurts from all the "definitions". Anyone else care to make sense of it?

http://search.cga.state.ct.us/2012/TOB/H/2012HB-05389-R00-HB.htm

It passed the senate on may 6th so its in and malloy says he is going to sign it but by the sounds of the posts before me here it doesnt sound like its gonna go our way...

Heres the link to marijuana policy project

http://www.mpp.org/assets/pdfs/library/MMJBills2012.pdf

Edit:

Is this the norm for other states to in regards to dispensary's?

(C) Establish a nonrefundable application fee of not less than twenty-five thousand dollars for each application submitted for a producer license;

(no sir you were not approved but you can get right back in line over there and reapply if you have the fee)....


(G) Establish financial requirements for producers, under which (i) each applicant demonstrates the financial capacity to build and operate a marijuana production facility, and (ii) each licensed producer may be required to maintain an escrow account in a financial institution in this state in an amount of two million dollars;

How is any of this possible when financial institutions wont give these types of business owners bank accounts...

i am curious if it is "official" yet? i heard the law was going to be passed but i haven't heard a thing since....what's going on?

In the post above theres a link to the marijuana policy project, you can see the most recent updates there but the law passed both houses and is awaiting gov. malloy's signature which he says he will put on the bill so supposedly it should be good as far as it passing but how its going to work out for us patients, growers and hopeful business owners is another story. I honestly I dont know but what I read of the bill doesnt look so great, and nothing anyone says is good as far as what I've heard so far but we will just have to see.