State’s largest 55-plus community to indulge in cannabis forum

— It’s no coincidence that Connecticut’s largest 55-and-older community has scheduled a day-long forum about cannabis on April 20 — a date that traditionally has been considered a pot holiday for weed enthusiasts.

“We’re trying to have a little fun with it,” says Laura Orban, community engagement manager for Heritage Village Master Association, who helped organize today’s five-hour event for members and their guests. “We’re an active adult community, so we can do that.”

Orban explains that there’s enough interest among the 5,000 residents of Heritage Village who already use cannabis or would consider using it or who still have questions about it to bring in a full roster of experts for an all-day conference — from a community health practitioner and a licensed substance abuse counselor to a police sergeant, a retail cannabis business owner, and experts from Yale University.

Topics for the “fact-based, judgment-free” forum include everything from talking to the family about legal cannabis and practical applications of cannabis to the effects of driving under the influence of cannabis on the older motorist. The capstone presentation by Dr. Deepak D’Souza, director of the Yale Center for Science of Cannabis and Cannabinoids, is entitled, “Weeding Out the Data on the Risks and Benefits of Cannabis.”

“We’re getting lots of great questions for our guests, asking what the difference is between CBD and THC (both stand for chemicals found in cannabis plants) or asking, ‘How can I use it for my pain?’ or ‘How can I use it to sleep?’” Orban said. “We are not asking for registration so it’s hard to tell how many will come. But we have a great lineup of guests.”

One guest speaker is Carl Tirella, co-founder of Budr Cannabis, which opened a retail cannabis store on Danbury’s Federal Road in October.

“Our goal is to go in and discuss the difference between recreational adult use versus medical use,” said Tirella, who has two other cannabis stores in West Hartford and Tolland. “We will also be talking about harm reduction and how to use cannabis to replace other (drug) uses, such as opioids.”