{"id":188,"date":"2021-07-06T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-07-06T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/CBMiW2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmN0aW5zaWRlci5jb20vbmV3cy9hcnRpY2xlL0NULWdyb3dlci1ob3Blcy10by1iZS10aGUtU2FsbHktcy1waXp6YS0xNjI5NTk2Mi5waHDSAQA"},"modified":"2021-07-06T07:00:00","modified_gmt":"2021-07-06T07:00:00","slug":"ct-grower-hopes-to-be-the-sallys-pizza-of-marijuana-ct-insider","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/?p=188","title":{"rendered":"CT grower hopes to be the ‘Sally’s pizza’ of marijuana – CT Insider"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Becky Goetsch grows marijuana. She has about 800 plants spread out in a pair of greenhouses. She\u2019s hoping to grow more.<\/p>\n

Inside the Killingworth garden store owned by Goetsch and her partner are huge plastic bins filled with dried cannabis buds ready to be rolled into joints and smoked.<\/p>\n

\n

Her plants are not psychoactive, though. They won\u2019t get you high. Her plants are not laden with THC, the psychoactive compound, but CBD, which has been legal to grow and sell for years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Connecticut grows some of the best hemp in the country,\u201d Goetsch said. When asked what makes good hemp, a marijuana plant with little to no THC, she replied, \u201cgood soil, good people, good farmers. Our Connecticut River Valley is so fertile. There\u2019s some really, really good hemp being produced.\u201d<\/p>\n

The problem, though, is \u201ccan you sell it?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sticker price for CBD is still really high to the customer,\u201d she said. \u201cThat doesn\u2019t translate to the income that I\u2019m generating from growing.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Goetsch got started, after the federal government allowed the growth and sale of CBD-heavy marijuana in 2018, farmers like her could sell marijuana plants for about $40 a pound. Nowadays, it\u2019s more like $7.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re selling in bulk to an extraction facility for CBD extraction, that\u2019s where you get the least amount of money,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Instead, Goetsch is marketing herself and her company, Running Brook Hemp Co., as craft cannabis, selling pre-rolled CBD-heavy joints, tins of CBD tea coupled with valerian root as a sleep aid, and other marijuana products intended for discerning customers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d like to be more like a Sally\u2019s pizza kind of person, than a Domino\u2019s,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Now that Connecticut has legalized the recreational use of THC-heavy marijuana, Goetsch is applying to be a micro-cultivator, replicating her success with CBD.<\/p>\n

Goetsch is a farmer. Even though she\u2019s been growing marijuana for years, she understands that plants need time. Her current CBD crop is doing well, but the state has said the first recreational dispensaries, selling THC-heavy cannabis, should open by July 2022, and that\u2019s not a lot of time from a farmer\u2019s perspective.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they want dispensaries open July 2022, we\u2019ve got to get growing it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Laboratory and recovery<\/h2>\n

Goetsch is, perhaps, an odd person to be growing marijuana. Though she describes herself as a hippy, Goetsch has a doctoral degree in microbiology from Yale University, specifically in molecular, cellular and developmental biology.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s also in recovery. She said her shift from laboratory to farm has been a big part of that recovery.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I started growing it I actually was able to get off all of my pharmaceutical meds trouble,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen you go through something, and then you\u2019re on antidepressants, and your life gets better, do you go off the antidepressants? You don\u2019t know what to do. It\u2019s like, what\u2019s keeping you sane? That\u2019s where CBD came into my life, was to aid in my recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n

Goetsch, originally from Branford, does not see a contradiction in being in recovery and growing recreational marijuana. Quite the opposite.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that cannabis in general, be it CBD or THC, has so many benefits for the recovery community at large,\u201d she said. \u201cHopefully, I can help craft products that can be beneficial to the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Goetsch doesn\u2019t just grow marijuana. She has fields of lavender, valerian, basil, turmeric and other medicinal herbs. All the plants are grown organically, without the use of pesticides.<\/p>\n

As she walked past rows of plants, she bent down to remove bugs from the tops of the leaves and eggs from the underside. There is no organic certification for cannabis products but she\u2019s proud that her marijuana is farm-to-table.<\/p>\n

Her own teenagers have access to black market cannabis products, like vape cartridges, which she said are \u201cjust super toxic and harmful.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t even know where they come from,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s what they have access to as teenagers and they have free access to it. It\u2019s all over. It\u2019s easier for them to buy than alcohol.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018A seat at the table\u2019<\/h2>\n

Goetsch is applying to be one of Connecticut\u2019s micro-cultivators, allowing her to grow 2,000 to 10,000 square feet of marijuana, which she said \u201cfits into my model perfectly.\u201d<\/p>\n

She\u2019ll pay $250 to enter a lottery, another $500 for a provisional license if she\u2019s selected and then $1,000 once her final license is granted. But there are no guarantees.<\/p>\n

The law, as it was drafted by lawmakers and signed by Gov. Ned Lamont<\/a>, stipulates a parallel process for so-called \u201csocial equity\u201d applicants, producers and retailers in communities that have been disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t begrudge the fact that the focus was really on trying to correct the wrongs that have been done to these groups,\u201d Goetsch said.<\/p>\n