{"id":4627,"date":"2022-01-23T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-01-23T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/CBMiXGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmN0aW5zaWRlci5jb20vbmV3cy9hcnRpY2xlL0FzLWxlZ2FsLXNhbGVzLW5lYXItQ1QtbWFyaWp1YW5hLWdpZnRpbmctMTY3OTczNzkucGhw0gEA"},"modified":"2022-01-23T08:00:00","modified_gmt":"2022-01-23T08:00:00","slug":"as-legal-sales-near-ct-cannabis-gifting-parties-gain-momentum-ct-insider","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/?p=4627","title":{"rendered":"As legal sales near, CT cannabis ‘gifting’ parties gain momentum – CT Insider"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Editor’s note: On Friday, Feb. 18, a High Bazaar organizer said on social media<\/a> the event would stop “until the Town of Hamden approves us for proper permitting.” A judge had ruled the bazaar at 18 Crest Way could not continue without town permits one day after the town applied for an injunction<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Seven months into the legal recreational marijuana landscape, Connecticut\u2019s previously underground cannabis<\/a> community is enjoying public consumption parties where growers show off flower specimens in what they believe is a gray area in the law.<\/p>\n

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Groups such as the CT CannaWarriors<\/a>, High Bazaar <\/a>and the New England Craft Cannabis Alliance<\/a>, which have been advocating for years for full legalization as nearby states, including Massachusetts, opened recreational sales, now sponsor a weekly out-in-the-open vendor assembly and smoke-in on private property in Hamden.<\/p>\n

And if people want to take home small plastic baggies of dried marijuana flowers, gummies or chocolates, that\u2019s between them and the exhibitors, under the rubric of \u201cgifting.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey seem to be using the gifting mechanism quite effectively,\u201d said Hamden Mayor Lauren Garrett, noting that the town has a task force preparing to support the local sales \u2014 and taxing \u2014 of recreational marijuana.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIn general, I am glad that the state of Connecticut passed the cannabis bill. The cannabis bill did leave this window where it is legal with the mechanism of gifting. We can\u2019t tax cannabis at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n

Garrett said the benefits of supporting the budding cannabis industry go beyond the extra revenue that host communities will see.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are going to be a lot of dry communities out there and we\u2019re looking forward to taking those economic-development opportunities,\u201d she said, emphasizing the associated benefits of overall town improvements, including ancillary business opportunities.<\/p>\n

The state Department of Consumer Protection, which is administrating <\/a>the rollout of recreational cannabis, has no jurisdiction over the events like the ones held each Saturday in Hamden. The agency is instead working to establish the taxable retail market to begin later this year. The law that took effect last July 1 allows those 21 and over to possess up to 1.5 ounces of cannabis, and up to 5 ounces in their homes or locked in their car trunks or glove compartments.<\/p>\n

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State law prohibits exchanging <\/a>anything of value for cannabis products. People may \u201cgift\u201d recreational cannabis to others, but may not sell it without a cannabis license, including giving it away at the same time as another transaction.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Hamden Police Department advises that the organizers of any marijuana-related events operate within accordance of local, state and federal laws,\u201d Detective Sean J. Dolan, the agency\u2019s public information officer, said in a statement, declining to comment further.<\/p>\n

For now, the weekend party and growers market will continue.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst and foremost, this is about the culture,\u201d said Joseph Raymond Accettulo, founder and president of the New England Craft Cannabis Alliance, whose years lobbying reached its goal in 2021, when the General Assembly approved legalizing marijuana in Connecticut, which launched its medical marijuana program in 2012.<\/p>\n

Cannabis community<\/h2>\n

Last Saturday, Accettulo spoke outside the High Bazaar\u2019s exhibition hall in an industrial park off Sherman Avenue in Hamden. Down the steep driveway, a TV crew was interviewing people leaving the bazaar.<\/p>\n

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Dozens of cars jammed the sides of the local streets, as a steady stream of adults arrived, walked up the driveway and paid a $20 admission fee. Veterans and medical patients were allowed in for free. Everyone entered through a side tent that led to the first dozen vendor tables, then through an open door into the main exhibition hall: A stark warehouse with two huge automatic doors and a tall stage where DJs were cranking Miles Davis in the hours before a live band took over.<\/p>\n

Hearst Connecticut Media Group was invited inside, where in the main room, vendors sat and stood behind about 70 folding tables, displaying art work, T-shirts, candles, pipes and edibles. But the stars of the show were jars with dried flowers, some dramatically lighted to show off their colors and trichome crystals, which contain the flowers\u2019 psychoactive cannabinoids.<\/p>\n

Accettulo said each week, about 1,200 visitors go through the event, which outgrew its original location off Dixwell Avenue, in the weeks after a much smaller open-consumption party <\/a>on July 1, when cannabis possession and use became legal, prompting Connecticut\u2019s underground to step into daylight.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was never meant to be a secret. This is about you and me getting together on a Saturday,\u201d Accettulo said. \u201cThis is like a church for people. They come here and they hear the music play. The vibe is very even-keel.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the bazaar is the culmination of years of hard work and there are no plans to stop.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the Jedi resistance,\u201d he said, half-joking. \u201cThis is in no disrespect to anybody, but we come with no fear. Furthermore, it\u2019s advocates wanting to take a little more control of bringing a fair and equitable cannabis experience to Connecticut,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re not just trying to trump a system, so to speak. We\u2019re trying to help bring forth a more diverse, more beautiful craft cannabis market.\u201d<\/p>\n

Accettulo also leads mid-week meetings in which he and experts advise the cannabis community how to apply for the upcoming licenses for growing and distributing marijuana in the state\u2019s nascent retail scheme with the first round of applications opening in early February.<\/p>\n

Breaking down barriers<\/h2>\n

State Rep. Josh Elliott, D-Hamden, one of the chief proponents of cannabis legalization since his election to the General Assembly in 2016, said he hadn\u2019t checked out the High Bazaar in his town, but he is sympathetic.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey take their craft seriously and they have an overall role in the marketplace,\u201d Elliott said, worrying that many so-called microgrowers, with only four licenses <\/a>to be given out in the first round this spring, will be shut out of the new retail industry. \u201cI hope they\u2019re recognized in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Generally, members of the High Bazaar are skeptical of Connecticut\u2019s plan for retail sales, pointing to recent corporate takeovers <\/a>of the medical cannabis growers.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t build a community from just handing out regulated licenses,\u201d Accettulo said.<\/p>\n

Christina Eva Capitan, 38, of Windsor, a bazaar vendor, agreed that bringing people together is the underlying goal.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe like to spread education and feelings of hope in our community, connecting people with information and resources, and really just try to make a positive impact on the community, to help reverse some of that stigma and try to heal some of that pain the community has felt for so long,\u201d she said outside the blue Hamden warehouse, guarded by armed security.<\/p>\n

Capitan isn\u2019t interested in pursuing a license in the upcoming cannabis retail market. \u201cI believe that process has come about pretty unfairly and a little bit hastily,\u201d she said. \u201cAs someone with a low income and as a mother, I don\u2019t have the money to waste on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

She noted a conspicuous TV camera, with a reporter interviewing people leaving the event.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was some concern because there was news media here, so that makes me believe that people still feel stigmatized and still feel like they could potentially lose their job or have a PTA issue,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Inside, there was a party atmosphere, with people lighting up marijuana cigarettes and vendors chatting with members of the public, showing off their flowers and discussing cultivation techniques. At the end of some display tables were cardboard boxes with holes on top, labeled \u201cdonations.\u201d<\/p>\n