Politics
Connecticut Officials Double The State’s Marijuana Purchase Limit For Adults
Beginning next month, adults in Connecticut will be able to buy up to half an ounce of marijuana in a single retail transaction—double the state’s current purchase limit of a quarter ounce.
Connecticut’s Department of Consumer Protection (DCP) announced the scheduled increase on Wednesday, explaining that the limit is the result of ongoing analysis of supply and demand and is designed to “ensure businesses are able to maintain adequate supply for both adult-use consumers and medical marijuana patients.”
Limits on medical marijuana purchases, currently set at five ounces per month, will remain unchanged.
“DCP has continually reviewed available supply and demand since prior to the launch of the adult-use cannabis industry in January 2023,” DCP Commissioner Bryan T. Cafferelli said in a statement. “As more retailers, production companies and other supply chain licensees have come online, the capacity of the industry has increased. We are confident this measured approach to adult-use sales has resulted in a healthy market for businesses, and a safe and fair marketplace for adult-use cannabis consumers and medical marijuana patients.”
The half-ounce limit applies to adult-use purchases of marijuana. Cannabis possession, meanwhile, is limited to 1.5 ounces for adults, plus up to five ounces that must be kept in a locked container at home or a locked glovebox or trunk, DCP said. Purchased cannabis must be kept in its original packaging, locked up and out of reach of children.
Purchase limits on products besides raw cannabis flower are set by equivalence. For example, DCP said the new limits would limit adults to buying no more than 14 prerolled joints that way a gram apiece, four to eight vape cartridges or about 170 servings of edibles, which are limited to no more than 5 milligrams of THC per serving.
Home cultivation of marijuana for personal use, meanwhile, became legal in Connecticut this past July.
Connecticut legalized marijuana for adults through the legislature in 2021, and two years later, sales numbers are still growing quickly. This year, the adult-use market has seen multiple consecutive record-setting months of legal purchases. September, the most recent month for which sales numbers are available, saw $14.4 million worth of adult-use sales and medical cannabis sales of $10.8 million.
The state also launched a new fund in August to help support social equity marijuana businesses. The loan program will provide financial assistance to help people who’ve been disproportionately impacted by prohibition expand their operations in the legal industry.
In July, meanwhile, the state adopted tax breaks for legal cannabis businesses that are currently prohibited for making federal deductions under an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) code known as 280E. Giving marijuana businesses the state-level 280E workaround is expected to translate into $4.7 million in industry relief for the 2024 fiscal year, which will increase to $6.2 million in the 2025 fiscal year, the governor’s office said.
