Denied cannabis applicants may get second chance
More than a dozen applicants denied cannabis licenses have been given another shot to get into Connecticut’s new adultuse market.
The Social Equity Council, which oversees the vetting of equity applicants for cannabis licenses, has remanded applications for 11 would-be cultivators and reconsidered applications from six applicants to the social equity lottery for varying license types from food and beverage to retail.
The applicants, who previously failed to meet ownership and control criteria, were able to submit updated documents showing they met the council’s new definition of ownership. The 11 cultivator applicants were able to reapply due to a partial settlement in response to a consolidated lawsuit challenging their denials as social equity applicants.
The 11 hopeful cultivators, would be required to
operate grow facilities in areas defined as disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs, received approval from the council to advance in the licensing process and undergo further evaluation by the state Department of Consumer Protection. If they pass the review by DCP, they then pay a fee to get a provisional license.
Nearly all cannabis licenses in Connecticut are issued through a lottery system with separate lotteries for equity and nonequity applicants. The council allowed six social equity applicants – one each for delivery service, food and beverage, product manufacturer, retailer, transporter and hybrid-retailer licenses – to resubmit their applications, which previously failed to meet ownership and control rules.
Social equity applicants must meet certain income thresholds, own and control at least 65 percent of a cannabis establishment, and live or have previously lived in a disproportionately impacted area. The council is using a new definition of ownership and control that means the socialequity applicant “exercises operational authority over daily affairs of the business, has the voting power to direct the management agents and policies and receives the beneficial interests of the business.”
A review by CohnReznick, which the council hired to help create a vetting system for equity applicants, determined the reconsidered applicants met the criteria for social equity status and the council agreed.
But some of the applicants failed to meet the other criteria and will not advance in the process. It was not clear how many of the six equity applicants met all of the requirements and were now under review by the state Department of Consumer Protection
As of Friday afternoon, DCP had issued provisional licenses to eight cultivators, four micro-cultivators, and 25 retailers. Retail sales by law cannot start in Connecticut until there is at least 250,000-squarefeet of grow space.