Connecticut’s legal cannabis industry is finally coming together, a welcome sight for consumers, business owners and advocates. As in many other states, Connecticut has made an intentional effort to weave social equity measures into its adult-use rollout and leverage the legal industry to repair the damage done to our communities by decades of cannabis prohibition. This includes expungement of prior cannabis charges and priority licensing for “disproportionately impacted areas,” or neighborhoods most adversely affected by the war on drugs.
For these measures to be most effective and beneficial, our communities need to be willing to welcome the legal industry into their backyards and support the local entrepreneurs who will be opening new businesses that will directly support the neighborhood. Without members of disproportionately impacted areas driving key initiatives forward, it will be impossible for our state and its residents to reap the full benefits of this social equity program or legalization in general. That means incorporating legal operations into the neighborhood, supporting local entrepreneurs and former “underground” legacy operators promoting a safe and regulated legal market, and encouraging cannabis education that stamps out stigmas and harmful misconceptions that keeps cannabis underground. This is how legal cannabis, and the perks it brings, become most accessible to our residents, whether they are consumers or not.
The presence of legal cannabis operations, whether they be cultivation sites, dispensaries or processing and testing labs and facilities, will grow, produce, and sell well-regulated and safe cannabis, keeping products out of the hands of minors and ensuring consumers have as best an experience as possible. Whether or not our communities embrace legal operators, cannabis is currently and will continue to be in our neighborhoods, and the best way to combat illicit cannabis operations and underage use is through a comprehensive legal program.
Furthermore, communities such as Harford and Bloomfield are designated as disproportionately impacted areas, meaning that they are a priority for licensing and placing cultivation and processing facilities in the adult-use market. Not only does this mean that members of our neighborhood will be given the opportunity to operate a business in the legal industry, but that our communities will benefit directly from the presence of these facilities through tax revenue, job creation and integration of justice-involved and legacy individuals.
For example, as a Hartford resident and city councilwoman who just recently received a license, I am making it a part of my business plan to collaborate with my community to host expungement clinics, support organizations that help solve issues exacerbated by the war on drugs and commit to hiring individuals from the neighborhood who are justice-involved or looking to transition from the legacy market. Our cultivation site alone will create around 75 jobs for members of the Hartford/Bloomfield area.
Cannabis legalization in Connecticut offers a rare opportunity to redress the harms done by the war on drugs and uplift our communities that are otherwise disenfranchised. It is neighborhoods in Bloomfield Hartford, New London and New Haven that deserve to and should be leading the charge for legal cannabis in our state. Job creation, economic stimulus, opportunity and the curbing of underage cannabis use are there to be had but can only be leveraged completely if we are active participants in the industry.
Tiana Hercules is a Hartford resident and city council member and a licensed criminal defense lawyer and has practiced in the areas of immigration, family law, and civil litigation.
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