Medical marijuana is now legal in Connecticut, though still not legal under federal law. Control over the industry is in the hands of the Department of Consumer Protection (DCP), which has chosen four companies to operate grow facilities and six to operate dispensary facilities. (Under the new state regulations, a “dispensary” is defined as a specially licensed pharmacist who can sell the product; a “dispensary facility” is the location from which the product can be sold.) To receive a license from DCP, the facilities must receive zoning approval from the municipality where they want to locate.
To date, zoning approval for the authorized grow facilities has not been very difficult to obtain. Medical marijuana in Connecticut must be grown indoors under very strict conditions set by DCP. So far, those Connecticut municipalities with many vacant warehouse-type buildings have shown less resistance to seeing a tax-paying employer occupy those buildings.
