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Study: Recreational Marijuana Could Bring Connecticut $100 Million Over 4 Years

Jeff Chiu
/
AP

Legalizing recreational marijuana in Connecticut could generate nearly $100 million in four years. That’s according to the latest study by an economics professor at UCONN.

The $15,000 study was funded by a national marijuana legalization group called the Marijuana Policy Project.

Fred Carstensen is the economist who worked on the study. He tells the Hartford Courant that “legalization will generate significant job creation, strong growth in GDP, and hundreds of millions in new tax revenues.”

Critics of marijuana legalization at the state legislature say the study leaves out the potential costs of regulation and risks to young people.

Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont supports legalization. His marijuana bill was put on hold when the state Legislature shut down due to the pandemic.

Copyright 2020 WSHU

Cassandra Basler comes to WSHU by way of Columbia Journalism School in New York City. She recently graduated with a Pulitzer Traveling Fellowship, which means she has two years to report on an issue anywhere in the world (she's still figuring out where she'd like to go). She grew up just north of Detroit, Michigan, where she worked for the local public radio affiliate. She also wrote about her adventures sampling the city cuisines for the first guidebook to be published in three decades, Belle Isle to 8 Mile: An Insider's Guide to Detroit. Before that, Cassandra studied English, German and Urban Studies at University of Michigan. When she's not reporting on wealth and poverty, she's writing about food and family.
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