June 22 (Reuters) – Connecticut on Tuesday joined 17 different U.S. states in legalizing grownup leisure use of marijuana as Governor Ned Lamont signed a invoice that he mentioned would additionally assist heal financial scars left by the struggle on medication.
The marijuana measure, which takes impact on July 1, would mechanically erase many legal convictions and would arrange a regulatory construction that may direct alternatives and income towards communities hard-hit by its prohibition.
“For many years, the struggle on hashish precipitated injustices and created disparities whereas doing little to guard public well being and security,” Lamont mentioned in an announcement.
Components of the measure largely mirror a legalization invoice signed by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo in March, which required that largely non-white communities that bore the brunt of drug enforcement efforts get a share of marijuana gross sales licenses and a share of the tax cash it generates.
Noting that some surrounding states had already legalized leisure use of the drug, Lamont mentioned, “we’re not solely successfully modernizing our legal guidelines and addressing inequities, we’re retaining Connecticut economically aggressive.”
Marijuana has been legally obtainable on the market in neighboring Massachusetts for greater than two years.
“Regulating hashish, somewhat than criminalizing it, has confirmed to be a superior public coverage – which is why increasingly more states are quickly shifting on this route,” Paul Armentano, deputy director of NORMAL, which advocates for abolition of marijuana legal guidelines, mentioned in an announcement.
The legalization motion has gained momentum this yr as 5 state legislatures, together with Connecticut’s, have accepted the drug’s leisure use, most just lately in Virginia, the place the legislation additionally takes impact on July 1.
Connecticut, whose legislation permits for private cultivation of marijuana crops in 2023, turns into the 18th state to approve legalization. Voters in a 19th state, South Dakota, accepted legalization final yr, however a authorized problem to the measure is now pending earlier than the state Supreme Courtroom.
Marijuana, which stays prohibited by federal legislation, has been accepted for medical use in 36 states, together with Connecticut.
(Reporting by Peter Szekely in New York; Modifying by Invoice Berkrot)
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