License applications rolling in as Connecticut adds medical cannabis dispensaries

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Businesses are rushing to capitalize on Connecticut’s mushrooming medical marijuana market.

Regulators have received more than 70 marijuana dispensary applications after deciding to expand the tightly controlled market from nine outlets to as many as 19, according to The Hour newspaper.

The new licenses will be issued in the coming months.

Additional dispensaries are needed to serve a market that has grown exponentially from 2,000 registered patients at its launch in 2014 to 25,786, according to the Hartford Courant and state data.

The state has just four MMJ producers in the state, and some dispensaries and patients are complaining about shortages of certain products, including indicas, the Courant reported.

It’s “extremely concerning,” said medical marijuana patient and blogger Paul Kirchberg.

However, Connecticut’s MMJ regulators agree with producers that there’s currently enough production capacity to serve the growing market.