The council, which aims to create economic opportunity for those targeted by past prohibition and enforcement, gave its preliminary approval Friday to a dozen applicants for businesses that are expected offer services from delivering services to product packaging.
No information is publicly available yet on the people behind those business entities. But the list of would-be cultivators released recently by the state – a group that has gotten an early approval and is still awaiting final sign-off for a provisional license – serves as a preview for the partnerships that have come together to operate in Connecticut’s nascent market.
Not surprisingly, Connecticut’s market has attracted interest from multi-state operators and wealthy individuals seeking to partner with equity applicants who get the first crack at licenses. An analysis of over 40 applications and ownership groups shows some similar trends among many of the would-be operators.
In order to obtain a social equity license, an applicant meeting specific criteria must own at least 65 percent of the company. The criteria require the applicant to live in or have grown up in communities with disproportionately high rates of drug convictions and unemployment and to meet income thresholds. Experts in the cannabis field, financial backers and others can be involved in the ownership group, as well, so long as they maintain lower ownership stakes.
State records show that one provisional cultivator license has been issued so far to Insa CT, LLC. The company’s application lists its CEO as Clara Jackson, of Bloomfield, who qualifies as a social equity applicant with a 65 percent stake in the company. Peter Gallagher and Patrick Gottschlich, the co-founders of Insa, a Massachusetts-based company with three dispensary locations including in downtown Springfield, are listed as backers.
Other applications awaiting approval for an equity cultivator license include a company backed by West Hartford philanthropist Eric Zachs, who created the Center for Cannabis Research and Innovation in 2019. The company name is simply FFD 149 LLC. Kennard Ray, Diane Drakes, Carnetta Ellis, and Benjamin Zachs are also listed as backers on the company’s application, with Ray, Drakes and Ellis qualifying as social equity applicants. Benjamin Zachs is proposing a dispensary in Old Saybrook with his company Fine Fettle, which operates dispensaries in Massachusetts, as well as medical marijuana dispensaries in Connecticut, records show.
Many of the businesses that have applied for licenses are navigating approvals processes not only to obtain a license, but to ensure they have zoning approvals in communities they are hoping to open shops or grow marijuana. While some communities have created moratoriums or are disallowing commercial cannabis operations, others are requiring local boards and commissions give a formal sign off to ensure businesses meet zoning requirements.
A company owned in part by former state senator and current Stamford first gentleman Art Linares also is under review by DCP for a provisional cultivator license after receiving the green light from the council. Connecticut Social Equity, which lists Linares and his father among its financial backers, has applied for several different license types including cultivator, micro-cultivator, retailer, hybrid retailer and food and beverage manufacturer.
Marc Bradley, who managed Ned Lamont’s successful run for governor in 2018, has 10 percent stake in Impact Initiatives, which has a pending application for a cultivation license. The company has submitted multiple applications each for retailer, micro-cultivator, hybrid retailer and delivery service licenses. Vinny Mangiacopra, who ran as a Democratic mayoral candidate in Norwalk, is listed as the social equity applicant with a 65 percent stake in the company.
Connecticut’s adult-use cannabis law sought to set up an equitable market, including creating economic opportunity for those targeted by past prohibition and enforcement, but a number of factors including license fees costing millions of dollars and the capital required in setting up these businesses have made that a near impossible feat.
H/T: CTInsider
You can view the whole article at this link Who’s behind CT’s new cannabis businesses? A clearer picture begins to emerge Written By Julia Bergman on CTInsider
