Adult-use marijuana sales will begin in CT this year. What does that look like in Norwich?

Next month, the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection will start accepting applications for certain adult-use cannabis businesses, kicking off the year sales are scheduled to begin in the state.

The application period is open for 90 days, according to an announcement from the state Department of Consumer Protection. The first licenses that will open up are for cultivators in areas disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs, which includes most of Norwich. That license will be available starting Feb. 3.

The other license types that will open in February include retailers, micro-cultivators, delivery services, and hybrid retailers.

Of those, only a limited number of licenses are available, half split between social equity and non social equity applicants, including 12 retail, four micro-cultivator, 10 delivery, and four hybrid-retailer.

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Norwich Mayor Peter Nystrom said potential entrepreneurs for the new industry have expressed interest in the city.

Nystrom said people have been attracted by the city owning its own utilities, resulting in lower rates, along with special rates for new businesses. Many of the interested parties the city is working with attended a talk in the city in November for encouraging growth in the adult use marijuana industry. However, Nystrom said he felt that some of the parties the city spoke with were more serious and qualified than others.

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With the coming application period, Nystrom said that “you’ll know who’s real and who’s not then, as if you don’t have a license, you’re clearly not in the game.”

However, Nystrom said it is an inconvenience that operations wanting to utilize the social equity component have to stay within disproportionately impacted areas, rather than being anywhere in the city, as Norwich is a distressed municipality.

“That sets up limitations for every community,” Nystrom said.

What does the change mean for medical dispensaries?

Benjamin Zacks, chief operating officer for the Fine Fettle Dispensary, which has locations in Connecticut and Massachusetts, said all his “ducks are in a row” to turn his Connecticut stores into hybrid stores.

That means he expects to sell to both medical and recreational clientele at his existing locations in Willimantic and Newington, and a third opening this month in Stamford.

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He’s still unsure how long it will take between sending in the application and getting the final okay to start fully selling.

“We are ready and raring to go,” Zacks said.

Zacks is also looking to open other Fine Fettle locations “in the areas where there is the highest need and the highest demand,” but wouldn’t exactly say where for competitive reasons.

The licensing process will be very competitive, he predicted, due to the lottery nature of the license granting.

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Carl Tirella, the Connecticut General Manager for Acreage Holdings, which owns The Botanist in Uncasville among other locations in Connecticut and across the country, said the company is actively working with potential applicants for social equity ventures in the state.

“We’re meeting partners on the ground, and we’re still going through that process,” he said.

Tirella said The Botanist is also exploring opportunities for cultivation, but said that since only a few licenses will be awarded, the retail side of the business will be the main focus.

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Zacks said there is the opportunity to create jobs and wealth working in social equity ventures, and said Connecticut is “doing things in a smart way.”

For smaller operations, the application period may be a tougher matter. One of the interested entrepreneurs that attended the city’s talk in November is Phelan Sharkey, who along with his business partner Antonious Brown, wanted to start a dispensary in Norwich. While the two men were optimistic in November, Sharkey said they’re less so now, noting how legalization is going in Connecticut and in other parts of the country, including federally, along with the costs.

“I see that there’s a lot more to consider now,” Sharkey said.

Sharkey said he and Brown were planning to raise the $1.5 million to avoid the lottery through creating two equity joint ventures.

“The barrier to entry shouldn’t be as great as it is,” Sharkey said

This article originally appeared on The Bulletin: Cannabis businesses prepare for licensing in Conn.