Yale alder submits resolution urging pot legalization in Connecticut

City Alder Hacibey Catalbasoglu, D-1, a Yale University junior, during a campaign event. City Alder Hacibey Catalbasoglu, D-1, a Yale University junior, during a campaign event. Photo: File Photo Photo: File Photo Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Yale alder submits resolution urging pot legalization in Connecticut 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

NEW HAVEN — Alder Hacibey Catalbasoglu, D-1, has submitted a resolution to the Board of Alders urging the General Assembly and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy to take steps toward regulating recreational marijuana in the state.

It’s a move that could end with the city’s legislative body publicly favoring legalizing pot in the Land of Steady Habits.

While Catalbasoglu, a junior at Yale University, said addressing drug problems in the city have long been a concern for him, a series of suspected K2 overdoses last month served as a trigger to turn those concerns into action.

“There’s no one big reason, there’s no primary driver, there’s no agenda for this,” Catalbasoglu said. “(It’s) not just for the well-being of my constituents, but for the city as a whole.”

Catalbasoglu submitted the resolution for consideration on Tuesday. It will appear as a communication during the Board of Alders next meeting Feb. 20.

Catalbasoglu initially had intended to submit the resolution in time for board’s Feb. 5 meeting. Catalbasoglu first made his idea public in a Yale Daily News op-ed published Feb. 8.

“We have to act now or else we will be responsible for having outdated policies that affect the lives of the people in New Haven,” Catalbasoglu said. He said he wants, “to let the people of Hartford know that we support the regulation of marijuana.”

Catalbasoglu said Yale Students for Sensible Drug Policies reached out to him during winter break. The group helped Catalbasoglu draft the resolution submitted this week.

In the one-page resolution letter, Catalbasoglu suggests in the resolution that legalizing marijuana could help reverse overdose trends, citing Colorado and Washington — two states were recreational marijuana use is legal. He details arrest rates he said are disproportionate for simple possession, adding that, “prohibition causes an enormous strain on policing resources, diverting attention from dangerous crimes and disproportionately punishing minority populations.”

Catalbasoglu mentions the potential for the state to generate $180 million annual tax revenue for the state. The figure is from the Connecticut Coalition to Regulate Marijuana, a pro-legalization group.

“Our state is in the worst financial crisis in the country, and cannabis regulation and taxation could begin to close our deficit,” Catalbasoglu wrote in the resolution letter.

City Spokesman Laurence Grotheer said that since the matter is still being processed by the Board of Alders, Mayor Toni Harp preferred to withhold comment, which is her usual policy.

State Senate Democratic President Martin M. Looney of New Haven last year spoke in favor of legalizing marijuana. A spokesman for Looney did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.

“We have to recognize that marijuana has been and will continue to be available — legal or not. The experiment with prohibition should have taught us a lesson that we apparently never learned,” Looney said in an interview with the Register’s editorial board last year.

While serving in the General Assembly, Harp previously supported decriminalizing possession of less than one ounce of cannabis. Harp co-sponsored a legislative bill with Looney in January 2009 to reduce possession of certain small quantities to infractions. A similar bill was signed by Malloy in June 2011.

Following next week’s Board of Alders meeting, Catalbasoglu’s resolution will be forwarded to a committee for further consideration and discussion. It could be weeks before the resolution is discussed by alders and a public hearing is held.

Catalbasoglu said he understands there are people who are opposed to legalizing marijuana for recreational use. He said he wants state legislators to attend the public hearing on his resolution.

“At the end of the day, there’s always another side. ... I wouldn’t want a vote on this issue without everyone’s ideas, thoughts, and opinions, and having the (people’s) interest (in mind),” Catalbasoglu said.