Hartford Business Journal

12 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | JANUARY 3, 2022 5 To Watch in 2022 By Sean Teehan Hartford Business Journal Contributor S tate Department of Consumer Protection Commissioner Michelle Seagull and Deputy Commissioner Andrea Comer have a busy 2022 ahead of them, as Connecticut cannabis businesses and consumers anxiously await retail sales to begin in Connecticut. DCP, which has been put in charge of regulating the marijuana industry, will spend much of the new year staffing up as it combs through applications, approves an inaugural slot of marijuana businesses and hopefully opens the market, Seagull and Comer said. The plan is to move quickly, but carefully. "In 2022 we expect to be spending a lot of time evaluating license applications and working with those applicants to get their business up and running," Seagull said in an interview. "Right now we're still hoping that there will be sales available starting toward the end of 2022." Last June, Gov. Ned Lamont signed into law the adult-use cannabis legalization statute, which went into effect the following month. While neighboring legal states like Massachusetts and New York created new agencies to oversee the marijuana industry, Connecticut's law places most of the regulatory authority in the hands of DCP. It also created and gives significant power to the Social Equity Council (SEC), which Comer chairs. Both organizations have made progress in getting the state closer to accepting applications from prospective cannabis businesses. That will be a key milestone in the early part of 2022. For example, in October DCP released cannabis business regulations related to minimum security standards, responsibilities of key employees and guidelines for branding and advertising, among other rules. During its Dec. 7 meeting, the SEC approved: official standards for prospective businesses applying for social equity status; elements necessary for applicants' workforce development programs; and business ownership and control requirements. Shortly after the SEC irons out details related to the creation of a technical assistance and accelerator program for social equity companies, the DCP will publish license applications, opening up the approval process. The SEC will also have to eventually decide how to allocate $50 million in bond funding that will support social equity initiatives. "We've got a lot of work ahead of us, so we'll be crossing all of those bridges as they come," Comer said. Now hiring When applications start rolling in, DCP will set the number of businesses it will initially approve for each of the nine license categories, which include retailer, hybrid retailer, cultivator, micro-cultivator, product manufacturer, food and beverage manufacturer, product packager, MICHELLE SEAGULL Commissioner Department of Consumer Protection Education: Law degree, Harvard Law School PHOTO | STEVE LASCHEVER DCP's Seagull, Comer will oversee launch of CT's recreational cannabis industry State Department of Consumer Protection Commissioner Michelle Seagull (right) and Deputy Commissioner Andrea Comer plan to hire about 60 new staffers in 2022 to help regulate the recreational cannabis industry.

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