The post Connecticut Hopes To Add More Medical Marijuana Dispensaries appeared first on High Times.
In an admirable new year’s resolution, Connecticut hopes to add more medical marijuana dispensaries in their state. The announcement came yesterday, right from the state’s Department of Consumer Protection. So how exactly does the Department plan to entice potential dispensary owners to apply? And how many more dispensaries does the Department want to add?
Cannabis in Connecticut
Back in 2011, Connecticut’s governor Dannel Malloy decriminalized marijuana in the interest of unclogging the state’s legal and criminal justice system. A year later, Governor Malloy took it a step further. In 2012, he implemented the state’s medical marijuana program. While the original program explicitly excluded minors, it has since been amended.
For Connecticut patients over the age of 18, there are 22 medical conditions that entitle the sufferer to medical marijuana. The conditions include epilepsy, Crohn’s disease, HIV/AIDS and post-traumatic stress disorder. Six of the disorders and diseases listed for adults qualify minors for medical marijuana. The six conditions are cerebral palsy, cystic fibrosis, spinal cord injury, epilepsy (and other seizure disorders) and terminal illness.
In a statement to the newspaper New Haven Register, Consumer Protection Commissioner Michelle H. Seagull lauded the positive impact of Connecticut’s MMJ program.
“Our state’s medical marijuana program is incredibly successful and is growing rapidly,” she said.
To keep up the momentum, Connecticut hopes to add more medical marijuana dispensaries to their roster. Currently, there are over 22,400 registered medical marijuana patients in the state and just over 800 doctors and advance practice registered nurses who have signed on to recommend cannabis.
But at the current time, there are only nine medical marijuana dispensaries in