Adult-use marijuana dispensaries in Connecticut will open their doors for the first time in around six months, according to Gov. Ned Lamont (D).
The governor made his remarks in response to a question posed on Twitter. He answered that he’d been briefed by state cannabis regulators and that Connecticut was “about six months away from opening a safe, equitable market.”
I just got my latest briefing on adult-use cannabis this week. We’re about six months away from opening a safe, equitable market. https://t.co/MGxEazXhbp
— Governor Ned Lamont (@GovNedLamont) July 12, 2022
Lamont’s comments come as a state panel charged with ensuring equity in the marijuana industry approved the first cannabis cultivator licenses for sixteen applicants deemed to meet the state’s social equity requirements.
Those applicants must now be approved by the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection and provide criminal background checks. If they clear this process, they will then have to pay a fee to make an application for a provisional license.
Lamont, a pro-legalization advocate, signed a bill legalizing recreational cannabis use and sales into law last year. Since then, state regulators have been busy preparing for the launch of the legal cannabis market. Partly to that end, officials created a website outlining the changes to Connecticut’s marijuana laws.
One of the provisions of Connecticut’s marijuana legalization law allows for registered medical marijuana patients to grow their own cannabis plants at home for personal use. That provision took effect in October last year.
The governor also recently put his signature to a large-scale budget bill that includes language to authorize the state to provide psychedelic treatments, such as MDMA and psilocybin, to certain qualifying patients.
With legal marijuana sales in Connecticut now visible on the horizon, it looks set to launch around the same time as neighboring New York’s own cannabis market.
