Legislation would prohibit cannabis gifting parties in CT with $10,000 fines – CT Insider

The General Assembly is considering legislation targeting a loophole in the states retail recreational cannabis law that has allowed gatherings like the controversial High Bazaar in Hamden, where vendors of marijuana flowers and related products gift them to paying customers in a party atmosphere.

Proposed new legislation would ban public gifting parties, with criminal penalties of a year in prison and $10,000 fines for violators.

The proposal drew opposition on Tuesday from Connecticuts cannabis community, who charged that the bill is an attempt to again criminalize the drug less than a year after the legislature legalized marijuana possession and set in motion a new retail industry that could begin statewide adult sales by the end of 2022, as well as recreational home growing in July, 2023.

Another section of the bill, which would ban billboard advertising for cannabis companies, was opposed by outdoor advertisers led by John Barrett, owner of the West Haven-based Barrett Outdoor Communications.

And state Rep. Juan Candelaria, D-New Haven, a longtime proponent of full cannabis legalization, warned that weaknesses in the social equity portion of the law - aimed at helping residents of neighborhoods adversely impacted in the failed war on drugs to obtain careers in the legal landscape - is being weakened by big corporations from out of state that are poised to take over Connecticuts budding, lucrative retail market.

Some of the language presented in the bill...in fact would re-criminalize this plant and would be a major step backwards for all, said Duncan Markovich of Branford, who told lawmakers that he owns a cannabis-related business. The citizens of the state of Connecticut and those of us specifically within the cannabis community, culture, advocacy and industry cannot fathom such draconian language around this plant. Enacting a law that criminalizes the giving of any of this plant-based medicine to our fellow family members, friends or even complete strangers is unethical, unfathomable and borderline nefarious.

For several months, as many as 1,200 visitors on a Saturday would attend the High Bazaar in a Hamden industrial park, with live music, open consumption of cannabis and dozens of vendors, until an injunction stopped the parties last month.

Giving away cannabis products should be no different than offering people vegetables from ones garden, Markovich said during a virtual public hearing on the proposal before the legislative General Law Committee.

But state Rep. Michael DAgostino, D-Hamden, co-chairman of the committee, said that while proponents claim they are not selling cannabis and cannabis-infused materials in the events, its plain that cash is going from the hands of people into the donation boxes - and vendors pockets - in exchange for the substances.

The committees intent, with this language, was to really prevent and rein in these retail gifting events that have been occurring in the state, which really are retail events, DAgostino said. Theyre just an end run around the permitting and transaction process that weve set up through our cannabis laws.

You cant give it away as part of a broader commercial transaction, said Michelle Seagull, the commissioner of the state Department of Consumer Protection, which runs the medical cannabis program and is in the process of creating the adult-retail system. It has to be a lot more than if you just gave it to a friend, Seagull said.

House Minority Leader Vincent Candelora, R-North Branford, a staunch opponent of legalized cannabis, said that societal issues are bound to emerge in the new market. He suggested banning cannabis smoking in public housing complexes, along with prohibiting cannabis-related billboards.

But Justin Welch, a member of the CT CannaWarriors and the New England Craft Cannabis Alliance, which successfully lobbied the 2021 legislation and which co-sponsored the weekly Hamden events, noted the danger and potential sanctimony of the General Assembly enacting a law that reimposes criminal penalties.

I use cannabis daily and rely on gifting for a variety of different reasons, Welch said in prepared testimony. I do not deserve to be punished for this, nor does anyone else. For too long now, good people have been persecuted for their involvement with cannabis. The grassroots cannabis community that exists here in Connecticut will not cease to exist, whether you pass this bill or not. Moving forward we need sensible cannabis policy that looks more like a craft beer policy.

Seagull, under questioning from the committee, stressed that her agency has no legal authority over the gifting parties or billboards that have become ubiquitous along Connecticuts interstate highways since last July 1, when cannabis possession became legal and state cannabis consumers were first directed to Massachusetts cannabis dispensaries.

House Minority Leader Vincent Candelora, R-North Branford, a staunch opponent of legalized cannabis, said that societal issues are bound to emerge. He suggested banning cannabis smoking in public housing complexes, which is not part of the pending proposal, and supported banning related billboards. Adults are going to find the product on its own, Candelora said. We dont have to advertise it.

DAgostino said that lawmakers seem restricted to either banning billboards or allowing them, with a likely First Amendment, free-speech court challenge if lawmakers approve the proposed prohibition.

Barrett, who is also president of the six-member Outdoor Advertising Association of Connecticut, which owns 88 percent of the billboards along state highways, said that unless all advertising for cannabis is banned in the state, billboard owners would be singled out in an unconstitutional manner under the proposal.

Candelaria, in dissecting the wishes of the bill proposed by the Social Equity Council that is setting up the framework for business opportunities in under-served communities, warned that the entire state industry might get taken over by corporate interests.

My concern here is that theyll corner the market, said the 20-year House veteran, a deputy speaker of the House.

Others who testified on the bill criticized the states 10-year-old medical cannabis program, charging that high prices and questionable quality is driving holders of medical cards to the High Bazaar and underground markets. A lot of the current producers and the dispensaries are out of state, Candelaria said. They are not people from Connecticut. Our intention was to ensure that equity applicants from our state have an opportunity to conduct cannabis businesses.

The deadline for the General Law Committee to act on bills is March 22.

kdixon@ctpost.com Twitter: @KenDixonCT

Visit link:

Legislation would prohibit cannabis gifting parties in CT with $10,000 fines - CT Insider