Connecticut activists and leaders including Hamden and New Haven Representative Robyn Porter are pushing for the legalization of marijuana statewide while focusing on equity and job creation and critiquing Gov. Ned Lamont’s legalization proposal, which debuts today.
“I think [Lamont’s] bill could absolutely be better,” said Devaughn Ward, senior legislative counsel at the Marijuana Policy Project. “There are a number of things that I have shared with his office to try and get him to include in the bill.”
Lamont, who is considered a moderate Democrat, proposed a bill focused on decriminalization, regulation and revenue creation, while Porter proposed a bill focused on labor and equity. Dr. Dirk Horn, professor of political science at California State University said that after experiencing the fight for legalization in his own state, politicians often focus on the economic benefits over the equity benefits like those proposed in Porter’s bill in order to get more moderate voters to support it.
“In California truthfully it was framed as an equity thing but it has been more of an economic thing,” Horn, an expert on recreational marijuana, said. “California tried to legalize marijiuana many times but it didn’t grab hold to the middle of the road voters until we started talking about the economic benefits.”
The first hearing on Lamont’s bill will occur today, Feb. 26, the day after a virtual discussion where Ward and other advocates announced their support of the labor-focused bill, “An Act Concerning Labor Peace Agreements and a Modern and Equitable Cannabis Workforce,” or HB6377. Hamden Legislative Council Representative Valerie Horsley hosted the webinar on Facebook live.
“This is a conversation that I have wanted to have because my stepsister was put in jail for selling marijuana when I was a teenager,” Horsley said. “She was separated from her young son. She really only sold a little bit and she did it because she needed the money.”
Porter, along with State Senator Julie Kushner of Danbury, introduced HB6377 in early February. The bill proposes an equity task force, a permanent cannabis commission and a long-term cannabis jobs training program. The first part of the bill is a labor peace agreement.
“What that means is that the workers will be able to choose to unionize, mobilize, organize, collectively bargain without fear of harassment,” Porter said. “That is important to us because of the issues this state has with equity and the wage gap. Union jobs for women, no matter what color you are, mean making a wage, benefits, retirement and things of that nature.”
The next part of the bill proposes a workforce pipeline agreement over the span of five years, which means no less than 10% of all cannabis revenues will go toward creating jobs. Additionally, a training pipeline will make sure anyone who wants to work in the industry is prepared to.
“These programs will prioritize training those with criminal histories related to cannabis,” Horsley said. “Over the past 10 years we have decreased our prison community. Just imagine if all the people who reentered our society were gainfully employed.”
Porter said individuals with felonies, especially drug offenses, have a hard time getting a job or going to college. Additionally, the bill would create funding for workplace development grants, not loans, to help those with adverse criminal histories start businesses in the cannabis industry.
“The governor’s bill talks about loans,” Porter said. “We talk about grants. The people that we are targeting are the people who would have a hard time getting in this industry to start with. Grants would be the way to give them a hand up. When you talk loans, you don’t own anything.”
Lastly, the bill addresses Native American residents of Connecticut and ways to help them open tribal cannabis establishments.
The proponents of the bill hope it will help combat some of the lasting effects of the War on Drugs, but Porter said it has a larger purpose.
“This bill really truly starts to deal with what people call the War on Drugs but is really the War on Black, Brown and poor people,” Porter said. “It uses data to drive the equity lens on how to reinvest. We are not going to play a guessing game — nobody is doing anything until we have the equity in place and the data to drive how we lay the program out.”
Kebra Smith-Bolden, founder of CannaHealth in New Haven, is the first and only Black woman to own a cannabis business in Connecticut. Smith-Bolden entered the cannabis industry after medical marijuana played a crucial role in the recovery of her 88-year-old grandmother who suffered a serious aneurysm.
“Within a month, we saw such a complete turnaround in her overall health status,” Smith-Bolden said. “Not just her physical status, but her mood and her pain relief. I wanted to study it.”
Inspired by the power of the plant, Smith-Bolden attended college in Massachusetts just as the state was getting ready to legalize marijuana in 2017. There, she learned not only about the plant’s medical benefits, but also the history of minority community criminalization because of marijuana.
“I wanted to take all of that information back to Connecticut to educate my community to provide safe, plant-based medicine,” Smith-Bolden said. “I started CannaHealth and we address so many social justice issues by just giving people access. We help to close disparities in healthcare and we help keep people safe from criminalization for medicating with this plant.”
Despite her success in the business, Smith-Bolden said the industry here in Connecticut is not set up for people like her to succeed.
I wanted to take all of that information back to Connecticut to educate my community to provide safe, plant-based medicine.
Kebra Smith-Bolden, founder of CannaHealth
“I had to basically create my own lane because it was impossible for me to obtain a license for a dispensary or a grow facility because I am not a ‘ca-billionare’ and looking at the makeup of the people in the industry, I am not a white male,” Smith-Bolden said.
Now that legalization is at the forefront of the discussion at the state level, Smith-Bolden is partnering with other activists to make sure the bill that passes is focused on opportunities for employment.
“Not everyone is going to own a grow facility but people can have quality jobs and be supported,” Smith-Bolden said. “If we haven’t learned anything, Black and Brown people, we need protection through policies and protection to be on an equal playing field and bring our communities to the level which we once were — revitalize our neighborhoods and repair the damage that was done.”
Smith-Bolden professed her full support of HB6377 and her disdain for the governor’s proposed bill.
“It has equity in the title, but no real equity there at all,” Smith-Bolden said. “I believe it is in there somewhere in the governor’s heart and his spirit to make sure we have equity. We need that to come through in the legislation that is presented and then we can have a real conversation. Until then, we can’t support something that continues to create these disparities that exist in our community.”