On June 1st, Connecticut’s Governor Dannel P. Malloy passed laws legalizing the use of medical marijuana. Now a little less than a month later, an experienced dispensary consulting firm, Kind Clinics LLC, which provides support services and patented technology for dispensing and cultivating medical marijuana, has opened a business office in downtown Hartford, therefore becoming is the first to publicly enter the Connecticut MMJ market.
Early in May, we reported that the Connecticut Senate passed the a medical marijuana bill through its halls. All it needed to officially become law was the Governor's signature. Today, Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy signed House Bill 5389 / Public Act 12-55 into law, effectively joining 16 other states as well as our nation's capitol, Washington, D.C., in making medical marijuana legal.
The qualifying conditions include cancer, glaucoma, AIDS/HIV, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, spinal chord damage, spasticity, epilepsy, cachexia, wasting syndrome, Chrohn's disease, post traumatic stress disorder, as well as a few others.
It took almost 10 hours of debate within the halls of the Senate, but as of Saturday, by a vote of 21 to 13, Connecticut became the 17th state to pass a medical marijuana law. All it needs now is Governor Dannel P. Malloy's signature on the dotted line, which, considering a recent statement by Malloy, does not seem like it's going to be an issue. In a statement released by the Governor's office, Malloy pledged to sign the bill once it reaches his desk and believes that Connecticut's version will "avoid the problems encountered in other states."
Late Wednesday night, the Connecticut House of Representatives voted in favor of a bill legalizing medical marijuana for the state. Gov. Dannel Malloy has said that if the bill clears the Sente, he will sign it.
The bill's 96-51 victory was not the first time medical marijuana has been approved by the Connecticut House; it has been brought up in the Connecticut legislature in eight of the last 10 years. In both 2004 and 2007, medical marijuana cleared the House of Representatives, but the bill had never made it past former Gov. M. Jodi Rell, who was in office until January of 2011.
