{"id":8136,"date":"2018-03-15T19:59:22","date_gmt":"2018-03-15T19:59:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.420magazine.com\/?p=13715"},"modified":"2018-03-15T19:59:22","modified_gmt":"2018-03-15T19:59:22","slug":"ct-marijuana-advocates-and-opponents-speak-out-at-capitol-hearing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/ct-marijuana-advocates-and-opponents-speak-out-at-capitol-hearing\/","title":{"rendered":"CT: Marijuana Advocates And Opponents Speak Out At Capitol Hearing"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0 5px 5px;float:right;height:100px;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/ct-marijuana-advocates-and-opponents-speak-out-at-capitol-hearing\/\" send=\"true\" layout=\"standard\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div><p>Each year marijuana legislation is up for public hearing, Cody Roberts and Joseph Toth walk through the Capitol clad in marijuana flags. Thursday was no different.<\/p>\n<p>The line to testify at a public hearing on marijuana hadn\u2019t yet formed but the pair kept an eye open, eager to testify before the general law committee. Roberts, of Seymour, had woken up at 5:30 a.m. in advance of an hour drive to Hartford.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m here today because cannabis saved by life,\u201d Roberts said, as he waited for the public hearing room to open. Roberts had a drug addiction and attempted to commit suicide twice.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve lost eight friends in the past two years to opiate overdoses,\u201d he said. \u201cI feel the plant could offer huge health benefits.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Norman Plude said that since 2012, he grew the marijuana that best helped him cope with his illness since it was not available at dispensaries. But on June 8, 2016 Connecticut State police raided his Seymour home.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat day my life changed,\u201d he said, becoming emotional. Plude, who has a court date in April, said he is facing 60 years in prison. According to Judicial records, he is facing four felony charges for possessing and selling drugs, and for operating a drug factory.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI use raw cannabis. I pick it and I eat it,\u201d Plude said. \u201cIt\u2019s the one form of medication, called THC A, that works for me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Plude said he suffers from complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS), which is a malfunction of the nervous system.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s known as the suicide disease because of the pain,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a burning pain. It\u2019s like a burn, with sand rubbed in and alcohol poured on top.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>All of Hernan LaFontaine\u2019s childhood friends who died of heroin overdoses started their journey\u2019s with an innocent joint on a Saturday night, LaFountaine testified before the committee.<\/p>\n<p>Hernan grew up in East Harlem, what he calls \u201cEl Barrio,\u201d in New York City. That was in the 40\u2019s and 50\u2019s before long before LaFountaine would become a graduate professor, Hartford\u2019s superintendent and the president of the Hartford city council.<\/p>\n<p>It was then when \u201cCarlito\u201d squeezed his hand as he died on the top of a billarid table in the local pool room, he said. His childhood years remind him that \u201cdrug addiction has always been the devastating human collateral damage of the hunt for profit by immoral entrepreneurs all over the planet,\u201d LaFountaine said.<\/p>\n<p>LaFountaine, a former superintendent of schools in Hartford, said he prays the legislature will show \u201cthe ultimate courage in leadership\u201d by rejecting the numerous temptations that come with legal recreational marijuana.<\/p>\n<p>The post <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.420magazine.com\/420-news\/international-cannabis-news\/ct-marijuana-advocates-and-opponents-speak-out-at-capitol-hearing\/\">CT: Marijuana Advocates And Opponents Speak Out At Capitol Hearing<\/a> appeared first on <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.420magazine.com\">420 MAGAZINE \u00ae<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Each year marijuana legislation is up for public hearing, Cody Roberts and Joseph Toth walk through the Capitol clad in marijuana flags. Thursday was no different. The line to testify at a public hearing on marijuana hadn\u2019t yet formed but the pair kept an eye open, eager to testify before the general law committee. Roberts, [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p>The post <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.420magazine.com\/420-news\/international-cannabis-news\/ct-marijuana-advocates-and-opponents-speak-out-at-capitol-hearing\/\">CT: Marijuana Advocates And Opponents Speak Out At Capitol Hearing<\/a> appeared first on <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.420magazine.com\">420 MAGAZINE \u00ae<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1616,9,1,3],"tags":[4184],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8136"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8136"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8136\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}