There are 100 more budding cannabis businesses getting ready to open in Connecticut, while simultaneously the limits on how much cannabis a person can legally buy in a single transaction may also soon increase.
Recreational customers at Connecticut’s legal dispensaries are now limited to purchasing no more than one-quarter ounce of cannabis plant material, called flower, or the equivalent at any one time. Medical cannabis patients may purchase 5 ounces in a month.
Department of Consumer Protection Commissioner Bryan Cafferelli said Friday that the recreational limit might soon increase, though he did not say by how much or when.
“We’re reviewing that to determine if there’s going to be an increase and to what amount,” Cafferelli said at a Friday meeting of the Medical Marijuana Program Board of Physicians. “Medical sales remain capped at 5 ounces per month.”
DCP spokesperson Kaitlyn Krasselt said: “The agency is continually reviewing the available supply and market demand of both markets to determine if it would be appropriate to increase the adult-use transaction limits,” but declined to give specifics until that review is complete.
“Additional details will be shared when it is determined it would be appropriate to raise the transaction limit and we are able to make an announcement,” she added.
Cafferelli also said Friday that more than 100 cannabis related businesses were in the process of opening up shop in Connecticut. Of those — including cultivators, packagers, shippers, and dispensaries — 46 will be recreational or hybrid dispensaries.
“There’s about 100 businesses somewhere in that licensing pipeline right now that are expected to open in the next year” throughout the state, he said.
There are currently 16 hybrid cannabis retailers in Connecticut, plus six recreational-only cannabis retailers.
Cafferelli said 44 percent of Connecticut towns have either temporarily or permanently banned cannabis businesses from opening within their borders.
Towns and municipalities can adopt ordinances as to whether or not a retail establishment, cultivator or distributor can open in their town, and some have decided to “take a pause,” or prohibit it for a year or two and then revisit it, where others have passed an outright ban, he said.
Recreational cannabis sales have steadily, if modestly, increased month-over-month since the market opened in January. There were $14.4 million in recreational cannabis sales in September, up from $14 million in August.
Medical cannabis sales, by contrast, have stayed relatively flat in recent months, though it decreased over the summer from a high of $12.6 million in March to $10.8 million in September. Sales of medical cannabis are not taxed in Connecticut.
“In terms of a market, it’s healthy, it’s steady and measured growth, and we are happy with it thus far,” Cafferelli said.
H/T: https://www.ctinsider.com/
