To the Editor,
As a Greenwich father with young daughters, I am grateful for the courageous vote of State Senator Alex Bergstein on S.B. 1085 in opposition to the legalization and retail sale of cannabis in Connecticut.
Contrary to the marijuana lobby, we now have significant evidence from several U.S. states as well as European countries that marijuana leads to more mental illness and violence. Marijuana retail sales have also failed to produce the surplus tax revenue that supposedly justified its legalization elsewhere. Marijuana acts as a neurotoxin that attacks our families and school communities while perverting the practice of real medicine.
The most urgent challenge faced by the state of Connecticut is to make the state once again attractive to young and growing families. Fiscal and tax reform as well as the expansion of charter schools are important positive policies to pursue. But we must also prevent new harmful policies, including the legalization of marijuana.
Stephen Schmalhofer
Greenwich
