Lemar Stirs Pot

A legislator looking to legalize marijuana sees more justice coming to New Haven as a result — but not necessarily more money.

The legislator, New Haven State Rep. Roland Lemar, has introduced a bill along with New Haven State Rep. Juan Candelaria in the current session in Hartford that would make recreational use of pot legal in Connecticut, as it is in the states of Colorado and Washington.

Legalization was sold in part as a tax and perhaps job-creation boon in those states. The evidence has been mixed.

Lemar made no such claims in explaining the bill on the latest edition of WNHH radio’s ​“Dateline New Haven” program. On the program, Lemar also discussed economic development in New Haven with fellow guests Anstress Farwell of the Urban Design League and New Haven’s Economic Development Administrator Matthew Nemerson.

All three agreed that they don’t see legalization as much of an economic boost, especially since they expect neighboring states to legalize it as well.

Lemar noted that the state already decriminalized the possession of small amounts of marijuana (in 2011) and legalized ​“medical” use of it (2012). He called recreational legalization the logical next step.

“I don’t think of it necessarily as an economic development tool or a tax generator,” Lemar said. ​“But to me it’s a product that should be treated similar to alcohol and cigarettes. Classification as a heavy narcotic is inappropriate. Being able to treat it as a traditional and well-regulated product is the right choice.”

He spoke of the wildly disproportionate difference in criminal sentences given to white suburbanites and to black and Latino urban-dwellers caught with pot.

An initial Office of Fiscal Analysis estimate suggested the state could reap $50.5 million a year in new tax revenue from legalized pot if it follows Washington state’s model, ​“up to” $20 million if it follows Colorado’s, Lemar said. He added that he’s not sure that number would hold if New York and Vermont legalize pot, too. (Enacting legalization in the coming session during this legislative session would add an estimated $10 to $20 million in tax revenues for the coming fiscal year, according to Lemar.)

In 2015, Colorado saw $1 billion worth of sales of marijuana, which generated $135 million in taxes, according to this report in CT News Junkie, which also quoted the governor as opposing legalization.

Asked about the potential to lure dispensaries or growers or to promote cannabis-based food companies, Nemerson said the city’s economic development staff has not discussed the subject to date. He did say that when Andy Wolf came back to town to take the job of cultural affairs chief, he mentioned the economic potential of the marijuana trade based on what he observed living in California, which has legalized medical marijuana.

“There are a lot of issues about any of these kinds of industries, as there are about casinos, that have to do with morality and where a community is going. The mayor has better insight” on those questions, said Nemerson, who in his telling last smoked pot himself in 1977. (“It was the night after I’d had a fight at the [Columbia University] radio station. I went down to the Village with a friend of mine to Cooper Union in a bad mood. That was the second time. I was a real square.”)

“Here’s one question I do have,” Farwell remarked. ​“I think it’s shown that [marijuana] doesn’t have terrible effects when it’s an adult smoking it moderately. But there have been a lot of recent studies that have shown if kids start when they’re younger, it can have a permanent effect on brain development. I wonder how the state might define regulations about essentially underaged users.”

Lemar responded that with legalization can come regulation, which can increase the state’s ability to try to limit teen use.

He said that because the state now regulates the sale of alcohol, but not pot, kids have an easier time obtaining the latter. He said that was true back in 1999, the last time he smoked pot.

“It was much easier to come by than alcohol was. I was 17, 19 years old. I think the average high schooler has a much easier time getting ahold of marijuana than they do alcohol. Alcohol is sold in a regulated environment. If you sell to minors, you lose your license. You lose your business. If you regulate a product in that manner,” you can have a bigger impact, Lemar argued.

Asked about concerns raised nationally by Colorado law enforcement officials about increased crime connected to legalized pot, Lemar responded that other officials in that state have contradicted that argument.

Also on the WNHH ​“Dateline New Haven” episode, Lemar, Farwell and Nemerson all criticized the exterior design of the newly opened Rite-Aid store at Orchard Street and Legion Avenue, part of the Route 34 West development. Nemerson praised the interior design. Lemar and Farwell also criticized the decision by Yale University to put a surface parking lot at the juncture of Dixwell Avenue and Goffe Street; Nemerson praised the idea and said the city in fact suggested it to replace the loss of a lot around the corner on Elm Street, where Yale is constructing new storefronts and graduate student housing.

The trio also praised a planned $935,000 study of how to rethink Long Wharf (depending on state funding approval). Nemerson said the city would like to see it evolve as a mixed-use version of New York’s Battery Park rather than an [I‑91] ​“Exit 9” style row of big-box retail outlets.

Click on or download the above sound file to listen to the entire ​“Dateline New Haven” episode with Lemar, Farwell, and Nemerson. The discussion about marijuana begins at 34:26.

Subscribe to WNHH’s new podcast ​“Dateline New Haven,” where episodes of the show will be delivered directly to your phone or smart device. (Click here for details on how to subscribe.)

This episode of ​“Dateline New Haven” was made possible in partnership with Gateway Community College.