Rep. Marra Joins House Republicans to Propose Cannabis-Related Legislation

State Representative Tracy Marra (R-141) today joined her colleagues from the House Republican caucus and called for legislation to align Connecticut’s cannabis laws with important social and safety concerns, including regulating the amount of THC in a product, providing strong and conspicuous warning labels, strengthening penalties for impaired driving, preventing cannabis sales and use in certain places, and more.

The multi-faceted proposed legislation, House Bill 5434 – An Act Concerning the Regulation of Cannabis will provide stronger protections for the consumer and assure safety in the community.  Cannabis users need to have a full understanding of what they are consuming, the concentration, as well as the risks of consumption.  The community needs to have proper safeguards against secondary cannabis inhalation and assurance of road safety.

“Despite myriad safety concerns having been raised prior to the passage of adult-use cannabis, the proposals presented today are reasonable and will help our adult cannabis users to better understand the risks and safety issues when consuming cannabis,” Rep. Marra, a trained pharmacist said. “These proposals will also support our law enforcement to keep our community safe by allowing them to engage with suspected impaired drivers. Unfortunately, in the rush to pass a legalization bill and collect cannabis revenue the state chose to downplay very serious safety issues for our citizens.”

Rep. Marra noted that she also proposed two separate pieces of cannabis-related legislation similar to those included in today’s larger caucus proposal.  Proposed House Bill 5460 – An Act Repealing Restrictions of Cannabis-Related Stops or Searches of a Person or Motor Vehicle would “restore the ability of a law enforcement officer to use the odor of cannabis as a basis to support an investigatory stop or search of a person or motor vehicle” has been referred to the Judiciary Committee.  The second, proposed House Bill 6091 – An Act Requiring Cannabis Cultivators to Periodically Study the Health Effects of Cannabis – would “require cannabis cultivators to periodically study the mental and physical health effects of cannabis” has been referred to the General Law Committee.

“This bill will provide more specificity to law enforcement, stronger protections to keep children safer, better health-related information and data for scientists and cultivators, and a more positive experience for adult consumers,” Rep. Marra said.