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    Friday, April 19, 2024

    Lawmakers to vote on medical pot rules

    Hartford (AP) - A special legislative committee must decide on Tuesday whether to approve proposed regulations that spell out the details of Connecticut's medical marijuana program.

    The General Assembly's Regulation Review Committee is scheduled to vote on the wide-ranging regulations, which include the quantity of active ingredients in a product, background checks for caregivers of patients and other rules.

    Lawmakers passed legislation in 2012 that created the medical marijuana program. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy then signed it into law.

    After first recommending that the committee reject the regulations, legislative attorneys are now recommending that lawmakers approve the rules on Tuesday after reviewing revisions by the state Department of Consumer Protection. The Legislative Commissioner's Office also cited 118 technical corrections that are needed.

    Some members, however, still have concerns about approving regulations for an industry that violates federal drug laws and whether lawmakers, state employees who regulate the system, marijuana growers and distributors could be liable.

    Rep. Selim Noujaim, R-Waterbury, the committee's co-chairman, said he plans to pose questions about the federal liability and other issues to representatives from the attorney general's Office during Tuesday morning's scheduled meeting at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford.

    While Noujaim did not vote for the 2012 bill that created the medical marijuana system, he said he understands that he has a different role as a member of the Regulation Review Committee. Noujaim and his fellow members are charged with making sure the regulations match the intent of the law and are sound.

    "I am very cognizant that I have two different roles right now," he said.

    Unlike most legislative committees, the 14-member Regulation Review Committee is evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans. Half had voted against the original bill.

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