The third annual Connecticut Cannabis Expo comes to Mohegan Sun Feb. 24 and 25, featuring a cannabis business convention, trade show and the X Cup, a judged cannabis competition.
The events will offer networking opportunities and panel discussions about the current cannabis political climate, existing and new legislation business opportunities, and visitors can attend educational and informational seminars while learning more about the production of marijuana, cannabis, hemp, and CBD goods.
The award ceremony for the X Cup, described as “New England’s most rigorously tested and judged cannabis competition” with seven categories of entry, takes place Sunday, recognizing some of the top cannabis products from the region.
The expo runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $20 per day, or $30 for a weekend pass. Attendees must be 18 or older. For more details, visit xpocann.com.
Connecticut has more than two dozen cannabis dispensaries, with more being approved in towns and cities around the state. In October, recreational cannabis sales in Connecticut set a record. Recreational sales increased by $354,966 from $14.4 million in September to $14.7 million in October. Sales of medical cannabis, by contrast, decreased $692,834, from $10.8 million in September to $10.1 million in October.
The average price of legal cannabis products in Connecticut has steadily decreased, hitting $37.55 for the average recreational cannabis product and $36.48 for medical cannabis, as of early November.
And, Connecticut cannabis consumers will soon see a change. There is currently a quarter-ounce per transaction limit on recreational cannabis purchases, meaning any customer purchasing legal recreational cannabis may buy no more than a quarter ounce at any one time.
But state Department of Consumer Protection Commissioner Bryan Cafferelli said that the limit would double as of Dec. 1 to half an ounce.
There aren’t any bills expressly proposing changes to the program, but Boyer said he’s “expecting a surprise” following the study’s release last week.
But he doesn’t think there’s any real threat to the medical cannabis industry, at least not from the Legislature.
“That’s dead on arrival,” he said.
A variety of cannabis strains are on display in June 2022 at a medical marijuana store in Lewiston.
NUMBER OF CANNABIS CAREGIVERS DECLINING
The discussion over bringing testing into the medical cannabis market comes as providers are leaving the industry in droves. The number of registered caregivers in Maine peaked at about 3,250 in 2016 and still topped 3,000 in 2021. Last year, though, the department reported a “mass exodus” within the industry when the number dropped to about 2,275. And more have left since. Last month, there were just shy of 1,800 medical caregivers in the state serving 106,000 medical card holders.
Maine’s medical cannabis market brought in about $305 million last year, a 16% drop from the record-breaking $365 million in 2021. The nascent recreational market, meanwhile, brought in about $159 million in 2022. The adult-use market is gaining steam and if current trends hold, it could expect to close out the year with roughly $215 million in sales.
The Office of Cannabis Policy has largely blamed the dwindling number of caregivers on market saturation, but industry members and caregivers also point to constant regulatory threats, high costs of doing business (the inability to get loans from banks and sky-high utility costs chief among them) and continued competition with the recreational market.
Whether a testing mandate is brought forward this session or in a future one, Kraus said it will only drive more business owners to close.
“It’s almost impossible to survive in the market right now,” she said. “We’re really in a pickle.”
H/T: https://www.sheltonherald.com/
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