All posts in Connecticut News

By Eric O’Connell/Zip06.com • 08/10/2021 02:20 p.m. EST The Old Saybrook Zoning Commission (ZC) will make a ruling on regulations related to marijuana retail after the commission is provided with more input from stakeholders. However, there is no timetable for that decision to be made. Last month Connecticut legislators passed a bill that legalized recreational marijuana use by adults in the state. Now, its up to local municipalities to interpret what regulations will be enacted to control its sale. Any regulations related to the sale of marijuana in Old Saybrook are likely to be controversial. While there is a contingent…

A bundle of four Fitchburg parcels, mostly owned by a cannabis company, sold to NewLake Capital Partners for $8.8 million, according to the North Worcester Registry of Deeds.  NewLake, based in Connecticut, specializes in providing real estate for state-licensed marijuana operators, according to its website. The company didn’t return requests for more information. Located at 1 Oak Hill Road, the four properties were formerly the secondary condominium of Anwelt Heritage Condominiums. The four parcels included in the acquisition were each roughly 32,000 square feet and assessed at just over $2 million a piece by the City of Fitchburg. The deal…

Connecticut is moving ahead with an initiative to prioritize black and brown communities in the distribution of business licenses for recreational marijuana, which state leaders say will help remedy historic injustices. Governor Ned Lamont, a Democrat, on Thursday convened the first meeting of the state’s Social Equity Council, which will help decide who can take part in the bonanza of legal weed. Connecticut last month became the 19th state to legalize recreational marijuana, with sales set to begin next July, and the new law mandates steps to prioritize communities that were hardest hit by the war on drugs. ‘We’ll finally have,…

WILMINGTON, N.C. – A Connecticut man was sentenced to 102 months in prison for possessing a firearm despite being a previously convicted felon. Marquis Lamar McDuffie entered his guilty plea on May 5, 2021. According to court documents and other information presented in court, officers with the Greenville Police Department attempted to conduct a lawful traffic stop on a vehicle operated by McDuffie on May 3, 2020. McDuffie attempted to flee before exiting his vehicle, throwing a loaded handgun over a fence and into the parking lot area of a nearby motel. The firearm landed by two children who were…

The civil judgment, the second-highest ever awarded in Montana, highlights volatility and growing pains in the CBD market. By Amanda Eggert, Montana Free Press Hemp, a crop that largely flew under the radar in Montana when it was planted under a pilot program three years ago, is now central to one of the largest civil awards in the state’s history. A jury in Wolf Point last month awarded 25 eastern Montana farmers $65 million in compensatory and punitive damages, finding that a handful of Canadian and American businessmen had committed negligence, fraud and deceit in failing to fulfill contracts, leaving…

Simsbury-based Curaleaf Connecticut is planning to triple its cannabis production output, as the company prepares to enter the state’s new adult-use recreational market. Curaleaf, a multistate operator headquartered in Massachusetts, currently runs one of Connecticut’s four medical cannabis grow facilities. Patrik Jonsson, Curaleaf’s regional president of the Northeast, said the company is currently in the design and engineering phase of expanding its Simsbury outpost to accommodate the increased production. Patrik Jonsson “We believe that there’s a way for us at our current location to expand, and we’re also looking at secondary sites, if that’s an option,” Jonsson said. “But we’d…

It wasn’t long ago when people looking to spend tens of millions of dollars bankrolling cannabis entrepreneurs were frowned upon by society, not to mention performing an illegal act. But these days, as an increasing number of states legalize marijuana for recreational use, the financiers are people like Devin Schleidt, owner of Greater Hartford-based business advisory firm Schleidt Works, who is launching a $30 million venture fund to help seed up-and-coming cannabis businesses in Connecticut. Schleidt’s fund, Connecticut Cannabis Capital LLC, will invest in prospective cannabis growers, dispensaries and manufacturers looking to get into the state’s recently-established recreational marijuana market,…

DANBURY – The short version of how two labor union activists from Harlem and Queens wound up growing hemp in the semi-rural hills of western Danbury is that they were fed up with New York City. But the longer story is a certain amount of destiny played a role in the couple’s year-old farming venture, as well as their decision to speak up for people of color as city leaders debate the future of legal marijuana in Danbury. “I just want to grow my weed,” says Hector Gerardo with a laugh that belies how seriously he believes in giving people…