HARTFORD — Bills in three different committees will be the core of the General Assembly’s wide-reaching legislation on the full legalization of marijuana for recreational use and retail sales, Democratic committee leaders announced Thursday afternoon.
The regulatory framework, at this point, does not include provisions for backyard cultivation of cannabis, a potentially divisive issue for lawmakers who will consider the raft of complicated legislation that if enacted could yield an estimated $170 million a year in taxes, once it gets off the ground.
The leaders said that the current producers of marijuana for the state’s medical cannabis program would have the extra capacity needed to provide retail marijuana in the first months of a new retail program, while an anticipated three tiers of new growers--small, medium and large operations--jump through the initial regulatory hoops.
