All posts in Connecticut News

Andrea Comer has a lot of work ahead of her. Comer chairs the 15-member Social Equity Council (SEC), a key regulator of Connecticut’s forthcoming recreational cannabis industry. When state legislators were debating the cannabis legalization bill that Gov. Ned Lamont signed into law in June, a primary concern among some was social equity. Pro-legalization advocates and some lawmakers highlighted the moral imperative of ensuring the pot industry would benefit marginalized communities that disproportionately bore the brunt of the nation’s half-century “war on drugs.” That’s why the law that went into effect July 1, puts the SEC front and center in…

When state legislators next put a survey in their “constituent service” mailings, it should include the question: How many bears will you accept in your neighborhood before Connecticut authorizes bear hunting? Of course most people don’t want any bears nearby. But then they don’t like the idea of shooting them either, even as bear sightings have increased sharply in the state in recent years, along with home break-ins by bears, bear damage to crops and livestock, and highway crashes caused by bears. The logic of Connecticut’s laissez-bear policy is that eventually every town in the state will have at least…

NEW FAIRFIELD — With the recent legalization of recreational adult-use of marijuana in Connecticut, local zoning officials are trying to figure out what to do about retail cannabis in town. “We could put a moratorium on it and not deal with it for a period of time, we could do nothing … or we could say in our zoning regulations that we allow (or don’t allow) dispensaries in our town,” said John Moran, chairman of the Zoning Commission, which opened a public hearing on the issue Wednesday. Municipalities across the state are deciding whether to allow retail cannabis businesses within…

Sep. 4—WILLIMANTIC — With town approval, Fine Fettle is now seeking approval from the state to sell recreational marijuana at its Thread City business. The business opened in 2019 at 1548 Main St. in Willimantic and it is currently licensed to sell medical marijuana, but Fine Fettle is seeking a hybrid retailer license. Under a new law that went into effect July 1, those ages 21 and older are legally allowed to buy, possess and consume recreational marijuana in the state of Connecticut. Windham Director of Development Matthew Vertefeuille said he approved the application to expand Fine Fettle’s current use…

DANBURY – How legal marijuana changes the landscape of the Danbury area depends on local decisions here and in surrounding towns, with a new round of debate planned after Labor Day in Ridgefield, New Milford, Southbury and New Fairfield. The result in a year’s time may very well be uneven – with some towns passing outright bans or passing restrictions on where marijuana can be sold or produced, and other towns welcoming production and retail sales of cannabis, and the 3 percent tax municipalities get to keep. While abrupt changes in the cannabis climate from one town to the next…

Illinois will hold another lottery for cannabis shop licenses after a clerical mistake left some groups with a lesser chance to win. The state’s Department of Financial and Professional Regulation announced Friday that a fourth drawing will be held to amend the process. Six applicants didn’t receive the correct number of entries. “In order to remedy limited administrative errors that led to certain applicants receiving fewer entries in the July 29th lottery than they were entitled to, an additional lottery will be held to provide those applicants with the correct number of entries,” the agency said. It also made clear…

Leonard C Boyle, Acting United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that TERRENCE COLEMAN, 20, of New Haven, pleaded guilty today in New Haven federal court to a firearm offense. According to court documents and statements made in court, in September 2020, Coleman, an habitual user of marijuana, possessed a Beretta .22 caliber pistol, which he subsequently traded to another individual in exchange for marijuana. Coleman, who was arrested on April 16, 2021, pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm by an individual who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance. Coleman is scheduled…

The Washington State attorney general’s office appeared alongside lawyers representing cancer patients on Thursday, telling a federal appeals panel that people in end-of-life care deserve legal access to psilocybin—the main psychoactive compound in psychedelic mushrooms—under state and federal right-to-try laws. “It is entirely consistent with the purpose and language of the state and federal right-to-try laws to include any controlled substances that have completed Phase 1 trials, including Schedule I controlled substances,” Washington Deputy Solicitor General Peter B. Gonick said in oral argument before a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, referring to a…