All posts in Connecticut News

In 2017 UConn horticulture professor Gerald Berkowitz and a group of 40 students toured the facilities of Curaleaf, one of Connecticut’s four medical marijuana producers, and picked up an interesting tidbit. “The CEO of the company was saying that he could never find any [job applicants] that had any knowledge of cannabis horticulture,” Berkowitz said. “In fact, there were no programs or anything in the country to address that.” About two years later, Berkowitz established UConn’s first cannabis horticulture course through the university’s School of Agriculture and Natural Resources. The course was immediately popular with students, some of whom have…

In 2017 UConn horticulture professor Gerald Berkowitz and a group of 40 students toured the facilities of Curaleaf, one of Connecticut’s four medical marijuana producers, and picked up an interesting tidbit. “The CEO of the company was saying that he could never find any [job applicants] that had any knowledge of cannabis horticulture,” Berkowitz said. “In fact, there were no programs or anything in the country to address that.” About two years later, Berkowitz established UConn’s first cannabis horticulture course through the university’s School of Agriculture and Natural Resources. The course was immediately popular with students, some of whom have…

With the legalization of recreational marijuana a strong possibility before the legislative session ends June 9 in Hartford, the question some cannabis experts are asking is this: Will there be enough Connecticut attorneys with an expertise to help potential clients navigate the new landscape? Observers say they believe passage is imminent this legislative session—as opposed to other years—because of support from Gov. Ned Lamont, who has presented a detailed implementation plan. The bill also cleared a major hurdle, after gaining approval from the Senate Judiciary Committee. The previous governor, Dannel Malloy, opposed legalizing recreational marijuana. New legislation could mean big business for Connecticut…

Portland, Oregon activists are mounting a push to have local lawmakers pass a resolution decriminalizing the cultivation, gifting and ceremonial use of a wide range of psychedelics. It’s a move that they say would fill the gap between historic statewide drug policy reform initiatives approved by voters in November. While those successful ballot measures legalized psilocybin therapy and decriminalized possession of all currently illicit drugs, the Plant Medicine Healing Alliance (PMHA) says the policies leave some important activity at risk of criminalization. The new local resolution they are asking the the City Commission to pass would make it so that…

Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont (D), who’s working to build support among lawmakers for his proposal to legalize marijuana, recently asked New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) how she got a legal cannabis through her state legislature this year. Lujan Grisham revealed in a new podcast interview that her Connecticut counterpart called for advice and she told him to consider decoupling legalization from related social justice proposals in order to make both easier to pass. “Putting that all in one new industry approach, I think, is problematic, and it’s one of the reasons we had to call this special session…

Rep. Gale Mastrofrancesco, R-Wolcott, said the “first priority” should be to target money for substance abuse and mental health treatment. Rep. Sean Scanlon, a Guilford Democrat and House chairman of the finance committee, said final legislation will increase funding for those areas.

CT CannaWarriors Cody Roberts smokes marijuana in front of the state Capitol in Hartford Tuesday afternoon. He and other cannabis equity advocates gathered at the Legislative Office Building and then marched to the state Capitol in support of a bill to legalize recreational marijuana. (Brad Horrigan/The Hartford Courant)

Washington, D.C. lawmakers on Friday held a joint hearing on a pair of bills to authorize the legal sale of recreational marijuana and significantly expand the existing medical cannabis program in the nation’s capital. The District Council’s Committee of the Whole, along with the Judiciary and Public Safety and Business and Economic Development Committees, took testimony from about 100 people on the legislation over the course of several hours. They heard numerous recommendations on the legalization proposal, ranging from enhancing social equity provisions to ensuring that medical cannabis patients continue to have access to their medicine to establishing regulations for…