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8 n e w h a v e n B I Z | F e b r u a r y 2 0 2 3 | n e w h a v e n b i z . c o m O n T h e R e c o r d | Q & A Adam Wood President & Founder, CT Cannabis Chamber of Commerce; Principal, City & State Public Affairs Education: Bachelor's degree, Haverford College; MBA, State University of New York; master's degree in international business and policy, Georgetown University Age: 43 By Liese Klein W ith $1 million in sales in its first four days and $2 million in its first week, Connecticut's recreational cannabis industry looks set to make its mark on the state's economy. Marijuana products made their debut on Jan. 10 at seven licensed outlets, with more set to open statewide in coming months. Locally, medical marijuana dispensaries in New Haven and Branford launched recreational sales on the start date. Networking and advocating for the fledgling industry before lawmakers and regulators are among the goals of the new Connecticut Cannabis Chamber of Commerce, set up in 2022 as state agencies tasked with enacting legalization moved toward retail sales. More than 50 state businesses in the areas of cannabis sales, cultivation and business services are now part of the chamber, headed by Adam Wood and based in Rocky Hill. e new industry's chief concerns are taxation, advertising and regulations around real estate and financial transactions. Other concerns include the details of social equity programs, which aim to ensure that cannabis profits help communities hit hardest by historic drug-enforcement policies, Wood said. New Haven Biz recently spoke to Wood about the CT Cannabis Chamber of Commerce and the launch of recreational cannabis sales in Connecticut. How did the chamber get started? Basically, I was very involved with the advocacy to promote legalization and saw a real need because a number of existing chambers in the state were opposed to legalization — some of their members had compliance issues or workplace regulation issues, etc. I saw an opportunity to be a voice for this new industry to try to help these new entrepreneurs and business owners navigate through the system and through various different state agencies and processes and regulation. My co-founders are Deborah Caviness, a co- founder of the Southern CT Black Chamber of Commerce, and Daniel Glissman, a partner at (law firm) MacDermid, Reynolds & Glissman P.C. Dan is a very accomplished attorney and has been doing a lot of work in the cannabis industry. Deborah has an enormous amount of experience in terms of the minority contracting and chamber worlds. What kinds of businesses are part of the chamber? e cannabis industry includes medical providers, cultivators, retailers, transportation and manufacturing, and we have welcomed all of those businesses under our umbrella. ere have also been a number of affiliated businesses that are interested in having access to the new industry. ose include everything from architects to accountants to law firms and marketing companies. So we welcome many different professions to our chamber. But primarily, we're here to serve the new entrants to the cannabis industry here in Connecticut. Growing Opportunity Cannabis Chamber advocates for state's budding industry PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED Adam Wood, president and founder of the CT Cannabis Chamber of Commerce, speaks at an event.

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