The Connecticut House of Representatives has approved a bill to build on the state’s marijuana legalization and expungements law by requiring courts to reduce sentences or dismiss charges for a wider range of cannabis-related convictions and, accordingly, to release people who are currently incarcerated on those charges.
After clearing the joint Judiciary Committee in late March, the legislation passed the full House in a 138-10 vote on Thursday. It’s now awaiting action in the Senate.
As introduced, the bill would have mandated that prosecutors dismiss marijuana charges for activity that’s been made legal, but lawmakers approved an amendment removing that language after state’s attorneys throughout Connecticut proactively facilitated relief in more than 1,500 cases following the enactment of legalization.
The amended legislation makes it so sentencing courts and judges must “discharge or modify a sentence” for marijuana violations related to cannabis drug paraphernalia and selling or possessing up to four ounces of marijuana, as well as for personal home cultivation.
A person would no longer need to petition for the relief under the revised bill.
Here are the specific crimes subject to resentencing and potential release from incarceration, according to a n official summary of the bill:
1. using
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