The Connecticut Senate will begin formal debate on a bill to legal the recreational use of cannabis in the state after opposing sides agreed to a way to lay out the bill so that tax revenues from the sales of cannabis will assist people who abuse drugs or may otherwise be adversely impacted by cannabis use, the Associated Press reports.

“We’ve seen what’s been wrought by having a war on drugs. Whole communities have been decimated,” Democratic state senator Gary Winfield of New Haven, co-chairman of the legislature’s Judiciary Committee, said.  “There are vestigial ways in which communities are still impacted by what we were doing.  We should never have made cannabis an illegal drug.”

The bill is expected to clear the Senate in a vote tomorrow.  It will then go to the state house, which has a Democratic supermajority, and then to Democratic Governor Ned Lamont’s desk.  Both the House and Lamont are expected to approve the measure, which would make Connecticut the 19th state to legalize recreational cannabis. 

The bill is not without its critics.  “I think it’s a big mistake,” Republican state senator John Kissel the top Republican senator on the Judiciary Committee, said, arguing it sends a “horrible message” to young people. “How many had parents who said, ‘If all your friends jumped off a bridge, would you do that?’ No. All of a handful of other states are doing this. Why should we?”

Under the bill, it would be legal for people 21 years and older to possess and use cannabis beginning July 1. A person would be allowed to have up to 1.5 ounces, with an additional five ounces secured in their home or vehicle.

Homegrown cannabis, however, will not counted toward that allowed amount.  Adults in a house will each be able to have three mature plants and three immature plants.