State Rep. Anthony Nolan of New London, one of 12 Democrats in the Connecticut House to vote against the recreational marijuana bill, emphasized during an interview Friday that he's been against legalizing recreational cannabis since he first ran for his seat.

The bill passed 76-62. Only one Republican voted in favor of the legislation.

In 2019, Nolan told The Day that as a former school resource officer, he taught kids the dangers of drugs and alcohol. He said he had "heavy concerns" about the legalization of recreational marijuana but understood "It's going to happen."

But his experience as a New London police officer isn't the main reason for his "no" vote, he said, though he thought that "if the bill passed, they'd have to train police officers to be able to determine and deal with all the changes that would come with it."

"I ran telling people I would not support the marijuana legalization. People knew that, it was very clear, and I haven't changed that since then. When I got up there, the first thing I told leadership was, 'I ran on not supporting it, I cannot vote for it,'" Nolan said Friday. Still, he made it a priority to put "as much equity in the bill as possible" and to make sure financial and other benefits "came back to our communities."

That was his goal in 2019, as well. He said he knew then that Connecticut was on the precipice of legalizing, so he focused on improving the legislation as much as possible.

"We should be discussing how legalization should work to undo damages to communities most impacted by the war on drugs," he said at the time. "I do support expunging records and creating incentives for the cannabis industry to hire ex-offenders."

This year, Nolan voted the bill out of committee so that his colleagues could make sure the bill focuses on equity, and even though he didn't in the end vote in favor, he said, "I think it is one of the strongest bills in the states that have legalized marijuana."

s.spinella@theday.com