On Friday June 25, 2021 many (if not all) vendors of CBD hemp products and smoke shops received a notice in Connecticut from the DCP (Dept of Consumer Protections) which stated the following:
Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection
450 Columbus Boulevard, Suite 901
Hartford, CT 06103
On June 22, 2021, An Act Concerning Responsible and Equitable Preservation of Adult Use Cannabis (“Act”) was signed into law, effective July 1, 2021. The Act established an adult use cannabis marketplace and made changes to existing cannabis regulation. Most notably, the Act defined cannabis to include hemp products with a total tetrahydrocannabinol (“THC”) concentration that exceeds 0.3% percent on a dry weight basis. The definition of THC now includes delta-7, delta-8, delta-9, and delta-10 THC. These products may only be sold by a licensed cannabis retailer.
As of July 1st, you may no longer offer or sell products made using hemp or hemp-derived products with any total THC concentration, including delta 7, delta-8 and delta-10 THC, over 0.3% on a dry weight basis since you do not hold a cannabis license. To avoid enforcement action, you must cease selling these products and remove said products from any sale displays by July 1, 2021. Failure to do so may result in enforcement action against your license.
Thank you for your cooperation in ensuring compliance with Connecticut law. Please contact dcp.cannabis@ct.gov if you have any questions.
So what does this mean? To start, if you are selling ▲7, ▲8, or ▲10, I would stop by July1. It also means under the new legislation, many aspects are now being legally defined and regulated under the new cannabis guidelines. So, if you have a business selling these types of items and want to continue doing such, you will simply need to apply for a cannabis retail license. Or, you’ll REALLY need to prove some things.
Up until this point, the CBD market has been minimally state regulated. Most vendors are just standing by a company quality standard. But even with that, only 1/3 of CBD products on the market have honest labeling. Now that same market is offering delta products in the dawn of a regulated industry. This is a concern for the consumer and this in part is how the concerns are being remedied.
With legalization comes new rules, laws, and principles that govern conduct and control an industry. In most cases these standards are set for safety purposes. Imagine if there was no health dept… You’d be taking your life into your hands every time you ate out or even bought food to cook yourself. Unless you killed it, you really wouldn’t know if it were good or not. Or imagine no TTB or FDA to regulate alcohol production and distribution, you might go blind, end up with a neurological disorder, or simply be chugging away on snakeoil.
With every new market comes growing pains. Growing pains can be… Well, painful. I definitely commiserate with any vendors that have made large investments in delta product lines being that you have only been given days to make accommodations. Not cool. This will hurt some small business owners. But at the same time, legalization goes into play beginning July 1 and so do all of the new rules.
However, change is always inevitable and what you resist will always persist. Appreciate what you have and you’ll find more of what you want. We sit at the dawn of legalization in the state of Connecticut. Read that sentence again. We sit at the dawn of legalization in the state of Connecticut. Let that sink in. Some things will change for the better and others will… well, not so much. That’s life. There will be opportunities to do some new things while at the same time we’ll have to put away some old thinking as well. Welcome to the new beginning.
