Thank you Scot for being you.

Hands Off Protest in New Haven today.

It was great to see small towns involved in yesterday's worldwide protests. Keep showing up!!

Hands off protest Windsor Connecticut 4/5/25 https://imgur.com/gallery/JqvmUvK

A big crowd!

@50501movement @handsoff

Source: Connecticut CannaTimes @FB April 6th, 2025 - Sunday

Hartford, CT – In a move widely touted by lawmakers as a step toward progressive drug policy, the Connecticut General Assembly advanced HB 7065, a bill to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of psilocybin, the psychoactive compound in “magic mushrooms.”

While the legislation marks a cultural shift in how the state treats psychedelics, critics are raising an uncomfortable question: Why is psilocybin moving forward while meaningful cannabis justice and patient rights reforms are being buried?

The answer reveals a deeper truth about Connecticut’s political calculus — one where optics of reform are used to distract from policies that cement corporate control, marginalize patients, and avoid true restorative justice.

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HB 7065: Progress with a Price Tag

HB 7065, passed out of the Judiciary Committee, would: • Decriminalize possession of less than ½ ounce of psilocybin • Impose civil fines: $150 for first offenses, and $200–$500 for subsequent ones • Prevent minor possession from triggering criminal or juvenile penalties • Update definitions to exclude small psilocybin possession from controlled substance charges • Permit associated paraphernalia possession — but not cultivation

While labeled as “decriminalization,” the bill still authorizes law enforcement to seize and destroy psilocybin and levy fines that could disproportionately impact low-income individuals. These new fine-based penalties create a perverse incentive for police departments to continue searching for, ticketing, and citing people for psilocybin use — not end enforcement.

Additionally, psilocybin cultivation remains fully criminalized. Anyone growing their own mushrooms — even for personal or therapeutic use — is still vulnerable to misdemeanor or felony charges, depending on weight and intent. This ensures continued criminalization of home growers, despite the state’s claim of reform.

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HB 5429 and HB 6377: Too “Progressive” to Pass

In stark contrast, two cannabis-related bills were left to rot in committee — HB 5429, protecting medical cannabis patients, and HB 6377, a sweeping justice and equity reform proposal.

HB 5429 would: • Expand cultivation rights for patients and caregivers • Cap lab testing fees • Add anti-discrimination protections • Reform Department of Consumer Protection (DCP) authority • Extend and revise patient registration terms

HB 6377 sought to undo decades of harm: • End all nonviolent cannabis investigations • Automatically expunge cannabis convictions • Vacate sentences and restore civil rights for incarcerated individuals • Require 50% of new licenses go to people from impacted communities • Establish an equity fund • Mandate police training on cannabis law and bias

Despite widespread support from advocates and affected communities, both bills were ignored — not for lack of merit, but because they would redistribute power and revenue away from state agencies and corporate operators.

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Decriminalization Without Disruption

So why did psilocybin move while cannabis justice got shelved?

1. No Financial Risk: HB 7065 doesn’t impact Connecticut’s multi-million dollar cannabis market, which remains tightly controlled by a handful of corporate operators and heavily regulated by the DCP. In contrast, HB 5429 and HB 6377 would disrupt that landscape.

2. Optics Over Substance: Lawmakers can now point to psilocybin decriminalization as proof of progressive values — without actually having to reckon with the racial, economic, and bureaucratic injustices baked into Connecticut’s cannabis system.

3. Bureaucratic and Police Protectionism: HB 6377’s call to end enforcement, expunge records, and review sentences directly challenges entrenched interests — from police unions to prosecutors and corrections. These institutions have little incentive to support reforms that weaken their authority or funding.

4. Psilocybin = Profitable Policing: Although framed as decriminalization, HB 7065 preserves and monetizes enforcement. With fines reaching $500 per person, departments now have a renewed incentive to stop, search, and cite — not protect public health. This is not a retreat from the War on Drugs; it’s just a more profitable, paper-based version of it.

5. Public Perception Manipulation: Psychedelics are now associated with therapy, wellness, and Silicon Valley microdosing — while cannabis remains politically messy, tied to over-policing, racism, incarceration, and fierce industry lobbying. The state is happy to embrace mushrooms while still cracking down on homegrown weed.

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A Progressive Mask Over Regressive Intent

Let’s call it what it is: a bait and switch. Connecticut wants the PR win of reform without the actual work of equity. HB 7065 gives lawmakers a glowing headline — while vulnerable patients remain overregulated, and Black and brown communities still wait for justice that was promised during cannabis legalization.

The irony? The state is decriminalizing a Schedule I psychedelic — while still punishing medical cannabis patients who grow too many plants, blocking people with convictions from owning a cannabis business, and allowing the DCP to weaponize compliance against small operators and caregivers.

And now, with the psilocybin bill, they’ve added fines without freedom, enforcement without healing, and a whole new revenue stream for policing without reform.

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The Bottom Line

HB 7065 shows Connecticut knows how to move quickly when it wants to. But when it comes to righting wrongs, redistributing opportunity, or loosening the grip of state and corporate power, progress is suddenly “complicated.”

So yes — possession of mushrooms will now cost you a ticket, not a record. But that doesn’t make Connecticut progressive. It just makes it clever at appearing progressive, while continuing to enforce outdated, inequitable laws under a different name.

connecticut #corrupticut #psilocybin #hartford #cannabis #leftbehind

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