Oversight of Connecticut’s marijuana industry is shifting from the state’s Department of Consumer Protection (DCP) to a newly created regulatory office within the agency.
The move comes only weeks after DCP officials apologized for what was perceived to be a “retaliation” inspection at a cannabis cultivation facility, according to The Connecticut Mirror.
The DCP has been planning to relieve the state’s Drug Control Division of the “licensing, regulatory and inspection functions” of the marijuana industry but sped up the process after the inspection, the Mirror reported.
The DCP notified licensed medical and adult-use cannabis operators in the state via email about the new regulatory office, which will be led by Lila McKinley, a lawyer in the agency, the Mirror reported.
DCP Commissioner Bryan Cafferelli told the news outlet that the oversight changes were needed because the volume of cannabis sales increased to tens of millions of dollars per month after Connecticut launched recreational marijuana sales in January 2023.
Separately, state lawmakers are considering a bill that would allow social equity applicants who formed partnerships with well-financed cannabis operators to sell their companies after three years instead of seven, the Mirror reported.
“Seven years is a very long time in any industry, and much can change,” Derrick Gibbs, a co-founder of Budr Cannabis, told lawmakers, according to the news outlet.
“If a venture isn’t doing well, seven years is a significant length of time for a person to be locked into an operation that is struggling.
“On the flip side, if a business is doing well, why should a social equity owner be prohibited from choosing to cash out at a time most advantageous financially?”
Brandon McGee, the executive director of the state’s Social Equity Council, said during a recent meeting his group hasn’t decided where it stands on House Bill 7178, the Mirror reported.
