An architect of Colorado's recreational marijuana program came to the Capitol to give lawmakers a crash course on the sale, taxation and regulation of the drug.

"Marijuana is sometimes referred to as being hip or cool, by the time I am done with my presentation you will think anything but," said state Rep. Dan Pabon, a Democrat from Denver, before he launched into an hourlong, often technical discussion.

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Connecticut lawmakers are moving closer toward allowing qualified patients under 18 years old to use medical marijuana to treat their debilitating illnesses.

The Public Health Committee overwhelmingly approved the proposed legislation on Monday. It now awaits further action in the House of Representatives.

The vote comes days after a funeral in Montville for 13-year-old Cyndiemae Meehan, whose family moved her from Connecticut to Maine to receive medical marijuana to treat her rare form of epilepsy.

Montville Rep. Kevin Ryan, a Democrat, suggested the bill be named in honor of the girl. Meehan had previously testified with her mother in favor of Connecticut’s legislation.

No state east of the Mississippi has legalized marijuana, but the land of Yankees has several states that could free the weed this year.

No state east of the Mississippi has legalized marijuana, but that's very likely to change this year, and New England will be leading the way. Two of the six New England states will likely let the voters make the call in November, while the others all have legalization bills pending.

So far, with the exception of Washington, DC, where voters elected to legalize the possession and cultivation, but not the sale of marijuana in 2014, all of the legalization action has been in the West. The four states that have legalized it so far—Alaska, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington—are all Western states.

Several lawmakers say they would support legislation allowing children to participate in the state’s medical marijuana program, a measure that could be reintroduced this year.

The state made medical marijuana legal in 2012. To qualify, a patient must be 18 or older. Last year, the state Department of Consumer Protection proposed a bill allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana to patients younger than 18. While the bill passed through the General Assembly’s Judiciary Committee with bipartisan support, it never went any further. The legislature did expand the conditions covered by medical marijuana, said state Rep. Mary Fritz, D-Wallingford, a member of the Judiciary Committee. Marijuana can be prescribed to treat 11 conditions, according to state law.

Colorado, which was a trailblazer in marijuana reform legalizing recreational sales in 2012, recorded almost $1 billion in sales at the end of 2015, according to the state’s Department of Revenue.

Sales of legal marijuana soared by 42 percent compared with the previous year, said the Cannabis Business Alliance (CBA). CBA welcomed the boost in sales, saying $135 million in taxes raised from the $996,184,788 in sales would help contribute to building new schools in the state.

Connecticut joins Rhode Island, Vermont and Massachusetts that all have similar measures in the works to legalize the sale of recreational marijuana.

Will Connecticut be the next state to legalize recreational marijuana? Washington, Colorado, Oregon and Alaska and Washington D.C. have already done it. There is now a bill in front of our state legislature that would make recreational marijuana legal in Connecticut. Backers say it would help with the state’s budget deficit, but is it a good idea?

If there’s one lesson Vincent Lambiase has learned in more than 30 years as a small business owner, it’s to avoid locating two businesses of the same kind too close together

“Would you open a pizza parlor near another pizza parlor or a flower shop near another flower shop?” said Lambiase, owner of Beachwood Florist in Milford.

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH) — The Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection has announced three new dispensary facilities that will be opening by the state’s Medical Marijuana Program.

DCP says that after a competitive process involving 19 applicants, three new medical marijuana dispensary facilities have been chosen. The facilities will be licensed by the state’s Medical Marijuana Program. These facilities are the only places in the State that are allowed to legally dispense medical marijuana to registered patients. DCP says there are currently 8,228 medical marijuana patients registered in Connecticut.

The new dispensary facilities are:

Curaleaf said it can provide New York with medical marijuana 'tomorrow'