04/21/2026
Last night on the House floor, I shared a deeply personal story, one that I felt was important to the debate on hand.
The majority in the House passed a controversial proposal (HB 5350) eliminating potency and dosage limits on ma*****na products sold in Connecticut, and I opposed it. The reason is personal: my 26-year-old stepson died from an overdose just three years ago. His loss deeply impacted our family, and it’s a pain we feel each and every day.
During what was a lengthy debate, my colleagues and I offered several amendments, including one to keep potency limits in place. I spoke because ma*****na can be the starting point of a dangerous path, and addiction is taking lives, including someone in my own family.
At a time when families and communities are already struggling with substance abuse, raising potency levels sends the wrong message. Ma*****na is not harmless, and increasing its strength raises the risk of dependency and, in some cases, progression to more dangerous drugs. This bill was driven by concerns that Connecticut is losing business to states with higher potency levels, but we should be far more concerned about the lives at stake.
Public safety is also a serious concern. Higher potency products can further impair judgment and reaction time, increasing the risk of impaired driving and putting more people in danger on our roads.
We should be working to make our communities safer, not expanding access to stronger, more dangerous substances, and I would urge my colleagues in the Senate to think about the impact this will have on so many families.
