Connecticut’s three new dispensaries to launch midyear

Connecticut has announced that three new medical marijuana dispensaries will open sometime in early summer, according to the state’s Department of Consumer Protection.

The new dispensaries bring the total to nine in Connecticut, which also has four cultivation operations. The three were chosen from a pool of 19 applicants that threw their hats in the ring last September.

Two of the new dispensaries – Arrow Alternative Care #2 and Southern CT Wellness & Healing – will be in the city of Milford, and the third, Caring Nature, will be in Waterbury. All three will be located in New Haven County, which already has one existing dispensary and more patients than any other county, with 2,141.

The town neighbors Fairfield County, which has one dispensary and the second highest number of patients, 1,941.

There are also three dispensaries in Hartford County, which has the third highest number of patients with roughly 1,700, and also one in Uncasville.

Despite the increase in dispensaries, roughly 20% of the state’s 8,228 medical marijuana patients live in the four counties that do not have dispensaries, according to state figures from Jan. 11.

The new dispensaries can receive their licenses after paying a $5,000 license fee and submitting certain final documents within 30 days.