Connecticut’s Social Equity Council isn’t letting a dozen lawsuits stop them from issuing approvals and some denials to even more applicants that want to open adult-use cannabis businesses. On August 19th the Council approved three Equity Joint Ventures and social equity status for nine applicants. Businesses with social equity status can qualify for a separate lottery system for adult-use cannabis licenses while Equity Joint Ventures are not subject to a lottery process. Among those approved for social equity status was 4 delivery services, 2 micro-cultivator applications, 2 product packager applications, and 1 retailer.
The Social Equity Council has hired outside firm CohnReznick to review applications and make recommendations on which applications qualify under the rules. According to a representative from CohnReznick many of the applications did not satisfy the ownership and control requirements put in place by the Social Equity Council. Eight out of the eleven denials were issued to Equity Joint Ventures who have the ability to re-apply. According to the press release approved micro-cultivators and retailers will be sent to Connecticut’s Department of Consumer Protection. Other license types will be sent once the maximum number of applicants have been approved for social equity status in each license category.
Learn more directly from the press release here: https://portal.ct.gov/socialequitycouncil/-/media/Social-Equity-Council/Announcements/Press-release-for-8-19-vote.pdf
Additional information is available from CTNewsJunkie here: https://ctnewsjunkie.com/2022/08/19/twelve-more-cannabis-businesses-get-the-green-light-from-cts-social-equity-council/
