All posts in Connecticut News

Connecticut’s new recreational marijuana law established a social equity council tasked with ironing out the implementation of equity components of the legislation.  The council held its inaugural meeting Thursday morning, where they passed a list of geographical areas deemed to be disproportionately affected by the war on drugs — and debated the speed of the process and fears that equity would be quickly co-opted by corporate interests. The state plans to prioritize applicants for marijuana licenses who hail from those communities.   Gov. Ned Lamont’s associate policy director, Patrick Hulin, presented a list of disproportionately impacted areas compiled by the governor’s…

Just weeks after Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont (D) signed a marijuana legalization bill into law, the state’s newly formed Social Equity Council met for the first time on Thursday to discuss its approach to fostering a diverse, equitable cannabis industry that benefits those most harmed by the war on drugs. Among other agenda items, the 15-person group approved a list of geographic areas disproportionately impacted by the drug war, which will be used to determine eligibility for social equity business licenses. Under the state’s new cannabis law, half of all licenses must go to equity applicants, who may also qualify…

As part of an effort to make the cannabis industry more equitable, people living in 35 Connecticut cities and towns will receive priority for recreational marijuana business licenses, state officials announced. The Hartford Courant reported that more than 200 of the state’s 833 census tracts fall under the social equity definition of disproportionately impacted by drug prohibition, based on drug conviction and unemployment rates. In June, Gov. Ned Lamont signed into law the state’s adult-use legalization legislation, Senate Bill 1201. Language in the legislation says residents of those areas will pay less for licenses. Half of all cannabis business licenses…

Connecticut’s new law legalizing recreational marijuana came with many questions and concerns for employers, who called their attorneys asking for a breakdown of what the legislation meant for them. It came as a surprise to many employers that they still retained much of the rights related to whether or not drugs—such as marijuana—could be used in the workplace, or even outside the workplace.

PLAINFIELD – Forced retirement seems to agree with Vail. After a four-year career as a narcotics-detection K9 with the Plainfield Police Department, the 5-year-old yellow Labrador has been living the easy life since Aug. 1, a month after a new state cannabis law prompted his removal from the force. “He’s eating from a bowl for the first time in his life and gets to stay at home instead of working 12-16 hour shifts,” said Sgt. Daniel Wolfburg, Vail’s former partner and current housemate. “But he knows something’s different; he sees me going to work from the window.” The decision to retire Vail…

Just weeks after Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont (D) signed a marijuana legalization bill into law, the state’s newly formed Social Equity Council met for the first time on Thursday to discuss its approach to fostering a diverse, equitable cannabis industry that benefits those most harmed by the war on drugs. Among other agenda items, the 15-person group approved a list of geographic areas disproportionately impacted by the drug war, which will be used to determine eligibility for social equity business licenses. Under the state’s new cannabis law, half of all licenses must go to equity applicants, who may also qualify…

An influential U.S. Senate committee on Wednesday voted to advance funding legislation and attached report language that encourages the federal government to reconsider “arbitrary” THC restrictions on hemp and continue efforts to develop a regulatory pathway for CBD products. Those provisions, among others, were approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee as part of legislation to fund the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other federal agencies for Fiscal Year 2022. The legislation would also continue a rider that protects state hemp programs from federal interference and extend the terms of an earlier pilot program under which…

An influential U.S. Senate committee on Wednesday voted to advance funding legislation and attached report language that encourages the federal government to reconsider “arbitrary” THC restrictions on hemp and continue efforts to develop a regulatory pathway for CBD products. Those provisions, among others, were approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee as part of legislation to fund the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other federal agencies for Fiscal Year 2022. The legislation would also continue a rider that protects state hemp programs from federal interference and extend the terms of an earlier pilot program under which…