Cannabis retailers in Connecticut would no longer be allowed to offer promotions and discounts, if a bill proposed in the state legislature passes.
That’s one provision included in a measure proposed this week that would also allow some hemp farmers into the marketplace and attempt to make sure every cannabis product is sold in licensed dispensaries, among other changes.
The bill, proposed in the legislature’s General Law committee, is in its nascent stages and would likely see alterations before any vote is taken. But industry insiders have expressed concerns over several of the provisions contained in the measure, including the proposal to end promotions.
Legislators see the law as a way to bring the state’s cannabis industry more in line with the way alcohol is sold in Connecticut. “We thought that commercialization of marijuana was supposed to be sort of a social justice kind of thing, to decriminalize it, not to promote it,” said state Rep. David Rutigliano, R-Trumbull. “These guys are putting these coupons in the Pennysaver.”
Another proposal included in the measure would redefine a “high-THC product,” preventing liquor stores and other retailers from selling cannabis-infused products. Other proposed changes to the state’s cannabis law are intended to allow more cultivators into the marketplace, including some that already grow hemp.
“That’s sort of an olive branch,” Rutigliano said.
Ending cannabis promotions and discounts in CT
The bill, as it’s currently written, would prohibit cannabis retailers from engaging in “advertising or marketing that includes a discounted price or other promotional offering as an inducement to purchase cannabis or any cannabis product.”
Keith Farrell, creative director at Still River Wellness, said that “if the state wants the program to succeed — if they want sales to increase — they need to allow businesses to be as competitive as possible with neighboring markets.”
“Massachusetts dispensaries already advertise promotions to our residents every day,” he said. “Connecticut cannabis consumers get offers delivered to their inboxes and their phones that lure them out of state.”
Cannabis prices have risen in Connecticut as supply has decreased, and Ben Zachs, COO of Fine Fettle, said discounts and promotions help the industry be competitive.
“I think it’s horrible,” he said. “We’re more expensive than our neighbors now. Just like any industry, discounting is a business decision for the good of the business and the good of the consumer, and especially where our pricing is right now these options make a huge difference.”
But state Rep. Mike D’Agostino, D-Hamden, chair of the legislature’s general law committee, said alcohol retailers have similar restrictions. He said cannabis pricing laws would not mirror alcohol regulations but “it would in spirit.”
“There’s minimum bottle pricing in Connecticut. You can’t discount below a certain price,” he said. “We’re seeing a bunch of flyers out there, ‘Come to our store for 10 percent off of this or 10 percent off of that. We wanted to put it out there that we’re not entirely sure we want the cannabis industry to turn into clipping Sunday coupons.”
“We would like to standardize commercial cannabis along with liquor,” Rutigliano said.
THC only in dispensaries in CT
Currently, state law allows for the sale of THC-infused products, such as seltzers, anywhere in the state if they contain less than 5 milligrams of THC per package or 1 milligram per serving.
A proposal would cut that to .5 milligrams per package. D’Agostino said the goal is to make sure all cannabis products are sold in licensed dispensaries, but Connecticut’s legal hemp producers say the change will put them out of business.
Becky Goetsch, for example, has a hemp farm and sells boutique CBD products. She said many of the items on her shelves are “full spectrum,” containing not enough THC to produce a psychoactive effect but enough to give her products efficacy as treatments for various ailments.
If the bill passes as it’s currently written, “to continue selling my products, I will have to return to a time where my products are illegal and I’m selling the illegal goods,” said Goetsch, who is also head of the Connecticut Hemp Industry Association. “Full-spectrum hemp products would be nearly impossible to sell with the definition of .5 milligrams of THC being a high-THC hemp product.”
Mike Goodenough, a hemp farmer, CBD product producer and co-founder of the Connecticut Cannabis Small Business Alliance, said, “It’s ludicrous what they’re doing to the CBD farmers and the CBD industry. In fact, it’s completely against free trade.”
Some producers both in and out of Connecticut have chemically converted legal CBD made from hemp into regulated THC, selling those products on the open market, which Rutigliano said is what the legislature is trying to curb.
H/T: StamfordAdvocate.com
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