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Guilford DAY Takes a Stand Against Marijuana Legalization

As Connecticut legislators continue to debate the possibility of legalizing non-medicinal marijuana, students from Guilford DAY (Developmental Asserts for Youth) have been making the journey up to Hartford to testify against legalization at public hearings, voicing their concerns about the potential negative affects of legalization on young people.

The debate over legalization began when the 2017 legislative session opened on Jan 4, with bills filed by Democrats—including Senate co-leader Martin Looney— and Republicans in both the House and the Senate that would legalize non-medical use of marijuana in the state. Currently, the state has laws permitting the use of marijuana sold by licensed dispensaries to qualifying patients with specific medical conditions.

Opponents of legalization have largely discussed the perceived risk to public health and safety while proponents have spoken about the possibility of legalization lowering the price of medical marijuana and the potential economic boost—estimates suggest tax revenue on the sale of marijuana could be anywhere from $60 million to $100 million a year.

After Massachusetts voted to legalize the sale of marijuana in 2016, speculation quickly took hold that Connecticut would follow suit. However, unlike states like Massachusetts, Connecticut does not have single-issue ballot questions, leaving legalization power with the General Assembly. With the vote in the legislators’ hands, Guilford DAY students have voiced their concerns at numerous public hearings held by different committees in Hartford.

On March 7, Guilford students attended a press conference as members of the StopPotCT coalition before the Public Health Committee, which was considering House Bill 5314 that would regulate and tax marijuana sales to persons over 21 years old.

DAY representative Danielle Ott, a senior at Guilford High School (GHS), said she spoke about her concern that legalization—or even the thought of legalization—leads to a decrease in the perception of risks associated with marijuana use.

“I spoke about the health risk and that the adults, whoever they may be, are essentially our role models,” she said. “It may seem like kids are just like, ‘Oh, whatever, we don’t care,’ but if we are seeing politicians talking about how alcohol is worse than marijuana so why not legalize it, then there is this message that it is OK.”

DAY representative Gabby Palumbo, a GHS junior, said she’s worried about the example legalization sets for younger students.

“Just the message it would be sending is wrong,” she said. “You can’t legalize something and say, ‘Oh no, it is bad for you.’ So why legalize it? I hope [legislators] think about it and make the right decision.”

Ott and Palumbo said they were some of the younger, if not the youngest, people to testify up in Hartford. Ott, who also testified before the judiciary committee on March 22, said legislators listened closely to their comments.

“Legislators really enjoyed seeing us there and they were very receptive to what we said,” she said. “They asked us so many questions and they were really eager to hear from our side of it, because I think it is really important to understand that even though it is only legalized for people over 21, it still affects us.”

The bill to legalize marijuana didn’t make it out of the Public Health Committee, but there is still an active bill in the judiciary committee. State Representative Sean Scanlon (D-98), who sits on the Public Health Committee, said there wasn’t enough support for the bill and thought it unlikely that legalization would pass this year.

“I think the chances are slim that a legalization bill will pass this session,” he said. “There is a small group of legislators who are strongly for it, but most colleagues I’ve talked to feel like there are too many unanswered questions for us to move forward this year.”

State Representative Vincent Candelora (R-86), who sits on the Judiciary and Public Health committees, testified against legalization and said he doesn’t see legalization as a reality right now.

“I think it is better than not that it is going to die,” he said of the bill still in committee. “I don’t believe that based on the testimony that there is a will to pass legislation and frankly I think a lot of it was in part of Guilford, because they really had compelling testimony.”

Members of the judiciary committee would have to vote on the bill to legalize by Friday, April 7. If the bill dies in committee, Candelora said that could be the end of the debate for now or it could reappear in the budget implementer put forward later in the session.

While a decision is yet to be reached on legalization, Scanlon said it is good to see students taking an interest and getting involved with issues.

“There aren’t too many young people who testify and that’s what makes the kids from DAY so exceptional,” he said. “They are truly passionate about this topic and their activism and advocacy is unique and, to me, really inspiring.”