Conn.’s largest 55-plus community to indulge in daylong cannabis forum to mark 4/20
SOUTHBURY — 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 Saturday’s fivehour 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 allday 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 “factbased, 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.”
The cannabis education forum at Heritage Village
comes seven months after Southbury banned the use and sale of cannabis “on any property owned or controlled by the Town of Southbury.” Under Connecticut law, Southbury adults may have a small amount of cannabis for personal use and may have it delivered from a neighboring town that allows cannabis establishments, such as Danbury — just not on municipal property.
“It is important for them to know cannabis is coming to their town whether they like it or not,” Tirella said, adding that it was not his intention to proselytize anyone in Southbury.
“I don’t worry about the town but rather the opportunity to speak and spread the word about cannabis, whether it’s a hostile or a friendly environment,” Tirella said. “I see it as an opportunity to
dispel the stigma about cannabis. Whether or not we change people’s minds, it is still a good opportunity for all.”
In Danbury, where Tirella and his business partner Derrick Gibbs opened a retail cannabis shop on the commercial east end in 2023, “business is going great.”
“We couldn’t have asked for a better six months,” Tirella said.
By as soon as next month, Tirella hopes to begin home delivery service from the Danbury shop. Danbury also has a hybrid medicinal and retail cannabis business called The Botanist near Interstate 84’s Exit 2 that services the city’s west side.
Meanwhile the environment for legal cannabis in Southbury is a work in progress, Tirella said.
Heritage Village, which makes up about one-quarter of Southbury’s population, has a diversity of backgrounds when it comes to cannabis, Orban said.
“Some (residents) are products of the 1960s when marijuana use was popularized as part of the culture,” Orban said in a release. “Others have never used marijuana before and are looking to sort out fact from fiction now that marijuana is legal.”
Although adult recreational use of cannabis has been legal in Connecticut since the summer of 2021 and the retail sale of cannabis has been regulated by the state since January 2023, it’s been up to cities and towns to make their own local regulations.
Brookfield is currently going through such a process. A moratorium on cannabis establishments is set to expire in May.