HARTFORD — Connecticut hemp farmers would be allowed to partner with smaller adult-use cannabis cultivators under a wide-ranging update to the state’s 14-month-old retail marijuana market overwhelmingly approved Tuesday morning in a key legislative committee.
The amended bill, passed in a bipartisan vote of the General Law Committee, would limit the sale of beverages laced with THC – the active psycho-active ingredient in cannabis – to package stores only; allow the attorney general and local law enforcement to penalize and close stores that illegally sell THC-based products; and require the disclosure of mold and yeast levels in their cannabis products.
The legislation, which next heads to the House floor, was the result of negotiations among lawmakers, Attorney General William Tong and the Department of Consumer Protection, which administrates the medical and adult-use cannabis markets. Rep. Mike D’Agostino, D-Hamden, who in recent years has been the chief proponent of adult-use cannabis, said the bill isn’t entirely finished, because percentages of THC throughout the legislation are likely to change before it is debated on the House floor.
Acknowledging the state’s problem with an adequate supply of dried cannabis flowers issue, the bill would allow people with grow licenses to step down to smaller, less-expensive micro-cultivation projects and partner with existing hemp farmers, to use that existing infrastructure. Areas where the failed war on drugs affected neighborhoods designated for cannabis business – census tracts called disproportionately impacted areas – would be expanded to other areas of a city or town, subject to local zoning approval, to allow for space to grow cannabis.
Last year, state hemp farmers hoped to be able to join the adult-use cannabis market, but the legislation failed.
State Sen. Christine Cohen, D-Guilford, recalled the first legislative approval of hemp farming back in 2019. “It’s been really difficult for them to make it work, particularly since the legalization of recreational marijuana,” she said of state hemp farmers, whose product has the compound CBD, which is sold for various chemical properties and health benefits.
While that section of the legislation has been in the bill most of the session, other parts of the bill are new, and are aimed at problems that have developed as the nascent adult-use market has grown , D’Agostino and other members of the committee agreed.
“One thing we know we’ve failed at in the last few years is enforcement,” D’Agostino said in the Legislative Office Building. “We intentionally left enforcement of the unregulated market to criminal laws and local police departments, and that’s just not working. It’s certainly not a slight at our local PDs. They’ve certainly got plenty to do. It’s hard for them to go into a store and know whether something hits a ratio, or contains a certain amount, or where it came from.”
The bill contains two new civil enforcement procedures for the attorney general and local police. If found to be selling THC-infused beverages outside liquor stores, heavy civil fines could result, with some of the penalty money returning to local municipalities. “If a town has a vape shop within its borders, their health department goes in and see products that should be in our regulated stores, they can go down and shut down that store,” D’Agostino said.
Another major change would require THC beverages to be sold with excise taxes only through package stores with liquor permits, for those over 21 years of age. “Right now the bill says up to two-and-a-half percent THC per container,” D’Agostino said while highlighting the legislation on the committee. “Only sold at liquor stores, not sold at restaurants, not sold at convenience stores, not sold anywhere else.”
Hemp products, with very low amounts of THC, that are not included in the regulated cannabis market, would also be subject to new age restrictions and testing requirements.
“I believe that this bill represents the best of this committee,” said Rep. David Rutigliano of Trumbull, a top Republican on the panel. “Everybody’s ideas have been put forth and seriously considered.”
State Rep. Melissa Osborne, D-Simsbury, a member of the committee, said that in the drafting of the bill, she was approached by residents focused on mold and yeast contamination in adult-use cannabis. “We’re not quite sure we know where we’re going with respect to the specifics of how we’re going to disclose mold levels, (if it’s) going to be statutory or regulatory, but that’s an ongoing conversation as we really tease it out and really drill down into where this properly be,” Osborne said.
“On enforcement, we’re limited to what tools are available,” said Sen. John Kissel, R-Enfield. “If I’m a beat cop or I work for the DCP (Department of Consumer Protection), I don’t know if I have the tools to whip it out and open a bag of whatever they’re selling to either confiscate it or let it go.” He asked D’Agostino how he sees the cannabis landscape evolving.
“I always feel like we’re playing a little bit of Whac-A-Mole on this committee now that we’ve legalized cannabis,” D’Agostino said. “I think we’re always going to continue to have the marketplace putting products out there and we’ve got to make a decision on whether we want to regulate them.
H/T: https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/
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