CT's 2025 legislative session started last week, and our advocates have been hard at work informing legislators on the issues on the ground!
Recent Efforts
In mid December, representatives of The Norwalk Partnership and other local prevention coalitions, convened by Positive Directions, held a virtual forum with our legislators to talk about current issues related to underage substance use and discuss policy solutions. We had a really robust discussion around several topics: smoke shop enforcement, responses to underage cannabis use, THC potency caps, siloed substance regulation systems, and the need for transparent reporting on uses of the sales tax-based Prevention & Recovery Services Fund. (If you missed it, please watch the video above and/or download the slides below.) Legislators in attendance included: Sens. Bob Duff and Ceci Maher; Reps. Anne Hughes, Dominique Johnson, Cristin McCarthy Vahey, Tom O'Dea, Dave Rutigliano, and Jonathan Steinberg. Reps. Lucy Dathan and Tracy Marra were unable to attend but have been meeting with one of our uber-advocates, Nicole Hampton, to stay abreast of the issues.
As a result of the forum, Dr. Joe Feuerstein of the Fairfield County Medical Association (FCMA) invited Positive DIrections and forum planners from TPAUD and the Town of Weston to a meeting with Senator Saud Anwar, MD, co-chair of the Public Health Committee. There was great interest from Dr. Anwar and from the FCMA in revisiting CT's potency caps.
In addition, the leadership team of the General Law Committee invited representatives of TPAUD, Positive Directions, The Hub, and Weston Youth Services to a small stakeholder meeting to discuss the smoke shop issue as they work on this year's legislation. They introduced legislation last year related to enforcement, and this year they hope to address some of the other issues that we brought up in our forum. We will share out the updated info
It's been great continuing the meetings with legislators who are dedicated to improving behavioral health work in our state. Stay tuned for more!
Upcoming Advocacy Options
This week, our colleagues from the Stamford, Greenwich and Darien prevention coalitions are holding another virtual legislative forum. It will take place on Tuesday, January 14th at 12pm; register here if you'd like to attend.
If you'd like to follow legislation on cannabis, mental health, or any other topic of interest, consider signing up on the CT General Assembly's Bill Tracking page. You can opt to receive daily or weekly texts or emails throughout the legislative session, updating you on the status of bills related to your topics of choice. Bills are being introduced by individual legislators up until January 17th, and CGA committees can continue to raise bills for a couple of weeks after that, so expect the list of bills to grow over time!
Shout Out to our Advocates
Many thanks to the planning committee that put together our legislative forum. Planners included members of the Local Prevention Coalitions from New Canaan, Norwalk, Trumbull, Weston, Westport, and Wilton, in coordination with the Stamford & Greenwich coalitions and our regional partner, The Hub; the work was convened by Positive Directions.
A particular shoutout to our speakers, seen in the video above:
Kaitlin Comet, Cannabis Program Manager, The Hub
Kevin Godburn, Director, Westport Youth Services
Nicole Hampton, Alcohol & Drug Policy Council
Melissa McGarry, Prevention Director, Town of Trumbull
Melissa Perez-Constantine, Program Coordinator, The Hub
Jim Walsh, Chief, Norwalk Police Department
Margaret Watt, Prevention Director, Positive Directions
as well as Dr. Robin Oshman and Dr. Joe Feuerstein from the Fairfield County Medical Association, who provided medical commentary.
Downloads
For more information, please download the slides from our legislative forum, our infobrief for the General Law Committee, and our Cannabis Infographics below.
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