Tag: Connecticut

Connecticut AG Sues 5 Companies for Delta-8 Sales

Credit: Andy Dean
The Attorney General in Connecticut is suing five retailers for some of the most “egregious violations” related to the illegal sale of delta-8 products.
Attorney General William Tong filed the suits for alleged violations of the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act over the sale of illegal delta-8 THC products mimicking popular youth-oriented snacks and candies.
Tong is additionally in the process of sending warning letters to all Connecticut-licensed retailers of electronic vaping products, according to a statement from Tong’s office.

The letters advise that sale of delta-8 THC by unlicensed retailers may be illegal in Connecticut. Products that exceed .3 percent THC on a dry weight are considered cannabis products and may only be sold in the regulated market.
Cannabis products sold outside of the regulated market continue to be illegal and may subject sellers to civil and criminal penalties.

“If you offer delta-8 THC products for sale in your establishment that exceed .3 percent THC on a dry weight basis and you do not hold such a license, you are in violation of Connecticut law,” Tong states. “For your information, we have included below photographs of products that were recently purchased from retailers in Connecticut that purport to contain delta-8 THC.
“The sale of such products may expose you to criminal and civil liability. Please remove any such products from your shelves and dispose of them immediately.”
Cannabis products in Connecticut cannot be sold by unlicensed retailers and must meet rigorous testing and packaging requirements.
Tong also recently submitted testimony concerning House Bill 6488 stating that he fully supports the state’s proposed ban on flavored vaping and other tobacco products.

February 10, 2023
Connecticut Legislative Panel Moves Forward With Flavor Ban
Credit: Quatrox Production
A Connecticut legislative panel on public health pushed forward Wednesday with a plan to ban the sale of flavored vaping products in an effort to reduce nicotine use by minors.
According to CT News Junkie, lawmakers have debated for the last two years without passing a proposal that would prohibit the sale of any vaping flavor other than tobacco and increase penalties for businesses caught selling nicotine products to youths.
Wednesday’s 19 to 12 vote found members of the committee split on the issue. Several lawmakers voiced concern that banning flavored vaping products could have the unintended consequence of leading nicotine consumers to more harmful combustible products like cigarettes.
Rep. Jamie Foster pointed to testimony from Yale professor Dr. Abigail Friedman suggesting the policy could increase tobacco use by minors and reduce smoking cessation by adults.
“It would be easier and significantly more comfortable to me to align with the advocates who want children to not have access to tobacco,” Foster said. “It would be easier if we could just say ‘E-cigarettes are evil’ and ban them. I wish we could. I wish the science supported that but it doesn’t.”
March 24, 2022
Connecticut Governor Reiterates Need for Flavor Ban
When Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont pushed for Philip Morris to relocate its headquarters from New York City to Stamford last year, the move quickly drew rebuke from anti-tobacco activists. The activists said the move would be a test of the governor’s support for a ban on flavored vaping products in the state.
Now, just weeks away from the 2022 legislative session, Lamont said he’s committed to supporting a flavored vape ban but is not guaranteeing the proposal will be in his midterm budget plan, which is expected to be unveiled next month, according to CT Insider.
Credit: Andy Dean
“I’m ready to go on that,” Lamont said Tuesday, asked about his support for the ban after an unrelated event in Bloomfield. “I think it was the right thing to do last time. I think we proposed it once or twice. This time I’d like to work with the legislature to see if they’ll step up. I’ll sign it.”
Last year’s effort fell apart in the 11th hour after a diluted version of the ban was stripped from the massive budget implementer bill at the request of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. The group said at the time that the proposal was “riddled with major loopholes” and could have made Connecticut more subject to lawsuits from the vaping industry.
January 26, 2022
Connecticut Cannabis Bill Bans Vaping in Many Public Places
The new bill in Connecticut that legalizes cannabis comes with a surprise. The legislation also bans vaping in many public places. In addition to being banned in health care settings, restaurants, state buildings and more, vaping and smoking tobacco or marijuana will now be prohibited in hotels, motels and other places of lodging, as well as in correctional facilities and halfway houses.
Credit: Andy Dean
Additionally, in all places where vaping is prohibited it will be restricted not only indoors but also outside within 25 feet of a doorway, window or intake vent, according to the Hartford Courant. That means, for example, a restaurant worker who takes a smoke break outdoors will have to do so at a 25-foot distance from the building itself.
The full list of places where smoking is banned in Connecticut now includes:

Any building, rail platform or bus shelter operated by the state (with the exception of public housing)

Any health care institution

Any retail food establishment accessed by the general public

Any restaurant

Anywhere alcohol is sold

In or on the grounds of any school

In or on the grounds of any child care facility

In any elevator

In any hotel room

In any correctional facility or halfway house

In any college dormitory
Landlords and building managers will not be allowed to prohibit the possession or consumption of cannabis but will be allowed to ban residents from smoking it. Connecticut recently joined 18 other states in legalizing recreation cannabis, after a multi-year effort in the state legislature.
Marijuana possession will be legal in Connecticut as of July 1, while retail sales are likely to begin next year. The bill lets people from cities that have borne the brunt of the war on drugs qualify for expedited licenses, in an attempt to reverse disproportionate impacts of marijuana prohibition.
“We had a chance to learn from others and I think we got it right here in the state of Connecticut,” Gov. Ned Lamont said before signing the legislation. “We weren’t the first but we were the first to show we can get it right.”
June 27, 2021
Connecticut Governor Signs Legal Marijuana Bill
The governor of Connecticut on Tuesday signed a bill to legalize marijuana—making it the 19th state to enact the reform. Last week, Gov. Ned Lamont threatened a veto over language on equity licensing that had been added, prompting legislators to revise it.
Credit: Spyrakot
“For decades, the war on cannabis caused injustices and created disparities while doing little to protect public health and safety,” Lamont said in a press release. “The law that I signed today begins to right some of those wrongs by creating a comprehensive framework for a regulated market that prioritizes public health, public safety, criminal justice and equity. It will help eliminate the dangerous, unregulated market and support a new and equitable sector of our economy that will create jobs.”
Connecticut is the fourth state to legalize cannabis for adult use this year alone, following New York, Virginia and New Mexico. Possession of cannabis among adults age 21 and over will be legal in Connecticut beginning July 1, 2021. Adults cannot have more than 1.5 ounces of cannabis on their person, and no more than 5 ounces in their homes or locked in their car truck or glove box.
Retail sales of cannabis aim to begin in Connecticut by the end of 2022. The sale, manufacture, and cultivation of cannabis (aside from home grow) requires a license from the state. Products that contain delta-8-THC, delta-9-THC, or delta-10-THC are considered cannabis and may only be sold by licensed retailers. Individuals who are not licensed by the state may gift cannabis to others but may not sell it. Individuals may not gift cannabis to another individual who has “paid” or “donated” for another product.
Certain cannabis-related convictions that occurred between January 1, 2000 and October 1, 2015 will be automatically erased. Those seeking to erase cannabis-related convictions outside of that period will require petitioning. The law enacts a tax rate structure on the retail sale of cannabis that includes a new source of revenue for municipalities.
This includes (1) a 3% municipal sales tax, which will be directed to the town or city where the retail sale occurred; (2) the 6.35% state sales tax; and (3) a tax based on the THC content of the product, which will be 2.75 cents per milligram of THC for cannabis edibles; 0.625 cents per milligram of THC for cannabis flower; and 0.9 cents per milligram of THC for all other product types. This means that Connecticut generally will have about a 4% lower tax rate than New York and about the same as Massachusetts.
“The states surrounding us already, or soon will, have legal adult-use markets. By allowing adults to possess cannabis, regulating its sale and content, training police officers in the latest techniques of detecting and preventing impaired driving, and expunging the criminal records of people with certain cannabis crimes, we’re not only effectively modernizing our laws and addressing inequities, we’re keeping Connecticut economically competitive,” Lamont said. “This legislation directs significant new funding to prevention and recovery services, which will be used to help prevent cannabis use by minors and to promote safe, healthy use of cannabis by those of legal age.”
Cannabis use is prohibited in state parks, state beaches, and on state waters.
June 23, 2021
Loopholes Bury Connecticut Flavored E-Liquid Ban
A measure that would have banned flavored e-cigarettes in Connecticut died in the state Senate late Tuesday after its main advocate said the ban was “riddled with major loopholes,” leaving tens of thousands of children and teens unprotected.
Credit: Christopher Boswell
“The Connecticut Legislature is making it quite clear that it will sell out Connecticut’s kids to do the bidding of Juul and Altria instead,” Matthew Myers, president of the Washington-based Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said in a written statement earlier Tuesday, according to The Telegraph.
Earlier this year, the legislature’s Public Health Committee passed a bill that would have banned all flavored tobacco products, including menthol cigarettes, but that bill was diluted. Then over the last few days, it was gutted further. In the General Assembly’s special session this week, the measure was added to the 857-page budget “implementer” that lawmakers adopt at the end of each spring session.
Rep. Jonathan Steinberg, co-chair of the public health committee, said earlier Tuesday he and fellow Democratic co-chair Sen. Mary Abrams were not consulted about the changes, and that he was first alerted to them by “one of the interested parties.”
June 17, 2021
Connecticut Seeking Flavored Vaping Ban, No Tobacco Bans
The state of Connecticut was facing a potential loss of nearly $200 million over the next two years if the state banned all flavored tobacco products. The state’s General Assembly’s tax-writing committee on Monday decided to drastically amended legislation to prohibit the sale of only flavored vaping materials and electronic cigarettes, excluding combustible products from the flavor ban.
Under the bill that passed with mainly Democratic support, Connecticut would join New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Rhode Island in banning flavored vapes, starting Jan. 1, 2022, according to the CTPost. California also adopted a ban, which is temporarily on hold.
The legislative Public Health Committee had previously recommended that all flavored tobacco products be prohibited, in attempt to discourage young smokers.
But the Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee’s co-chairmen, Rep. Sean Scanlon of Guilford and Sen. John Fonfara of Hartford, amended the bill, kicking off a 40-minute debate in which more-conservative Republicans charged that the state is attempting to interfere with personal freedom. Liberal Democrats argued that it was a way to discourage young people, even those under-21 who are prohibited under current law from purchasing tobacco products.
“We have been working over the weekend to try to get the place we’re at today on this bill,” Scanlon said, stressing that the compromise legislation would revert to what the governor proposed in his budget.
May 4, 2021
Connecticut Could Ban Flavored Vapes by October
A bill winding its way through the Connecticut General Assembly would ban the sale of flavored e-cigarettes and tobacco products in the state. Lawmakers who sponsored the bill say the bill is needed to reduce nicotine addiction, which disproportionately affects young adults and people of color.
Credit: Ethan Parsa
The ban would target vape products with fruit and dessert flavors, while allowing for tobacco flavored vapes. The bill would also prevent the sale of all menthol flavored products. “For many years I have watched my community suffer from the long-standing results of having this habit of smoking that they can’t seem to break; and we watch them suffer and lose their lives,” NAACP Bridgeport Chapter President Rev. D. Stanley Lord said during a press conference, as reported by wshu.com. “Families lose loved one’s because they have targeted the Black and Brown community.”
Critics say that the ban would drive former smokers back to combustible cigarettes. Traditional tobacco use is a major contributor to heart disease, cancer and strokes, which are the three leading causes of death among African Americans, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The bill advanced from the state’s public health committee to the full Legislature on March 5. Senate Committee Chair Mary Daugherty Abrams said during the press conference that she thinks that there is a “strong” chance that the bill passes through the legislature. If the bill is enacted, the ban would go into effect in October.
“I don’t think we here at the state of Connecticut can wait indefinitely for the federal government to take action,” Steinberg said. “So we’re following through, on what we promised we would do, which would be to end flavors which we view as an unfortunate temptation into the world of addiction.”
March 25, 2021
Connecticut’s Largest City Seeking to Ban Flavored Vapes
The beatdown of vapor products goes on as Connecticut’s largest city is now looking to ban flavored vaping and other tobacco products. City lawmakers announced the intent to ban flavors at a press conference last week.
In addition, state Sen. Marilyn Moore said she will address new legislation before the Connecticut General Assembly’s Public Health Committee, on which she serves, to ban the sale of all flavored tobacco products, including menthol cigarettes and flavored e-cigarettes.
If passed, Bridgeport would join more than 100 cities in the nation and two states that have enacted bans on flavored tobacco products, which the group said have been proven to be more attractive to children.
Earlier this year, Connecticut lawmakers announced they wanted more vapor industry legislation.
February 1, 2021
Connecticut Lawmakers Want More Vape Legislation
Vaping products are going to be much harder to sell in Connecticut under bills that are being introduced in the General Assembly, including a ban on the sale of all nicotine products in pharmacies, and e-cigarettes within five miles of schools.
Credit: Haiberliu
Lawmakers are also expected to reintroduce legislation from Gov. Lamont that failed in the closure of the General Assembly last March, to ban flavored vaping devices, in attempt to prevent teenagers and young adults from starting what data show can become lifetime habits, according to an article in the Middletown Press.
Several of the bills, including the outright ban on refillable e-cigarettes and vaping products in the state, have been introduced by state Sen. Saud Anwar, a physician from South Windsor who serves as vice chairman of the Public Health Committee.
“Many of the children are facing life-long addictions and we must do something,” Anwar, a Democrat, said in a Friday interview. He said that it is hypocritical for pharmacies on the one hand to be places where health aids, drugs and vaccines are available, while the nicotine-based e-cigarettes and vaping materials are in the same place.
The five-mile zone around schools would also include neighborhood variety stores and gas stations. Another bill would require Connecticut buyers of online nicotine-delivery products to produce proof of their age before transactions can be completed.
Kevin O’Flaherty, regional director of advocacy for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said Friday said the organization’s main goal this year is to eliminate all flavored tobacco products, including cigarettes, mirroring a law that took effect last year in Massachusetts.
“We’ve got to protect kids from these flavors,” O’Flaherty said. “We really want all flavors off the market. You just have to do it that way. Smoking overall is going down. If we are serious about ending the cycle of addiction, we have to nip it in the bud. All of Connecticut’s neighbors have banned all flavored e-cigarettes, but only Massachusetts has banned flavored tobacco too.”
A spokesman for the vapor company Juul Labs, said Friday that with a customer base of one billion adults, it is committed to keeping children away from using its products, while helping grown-ups wean themselves from smoking. In September of 2019, the company ceased all marketing and advertising.
“We will continue to reset the vapor category in the U.S. and seek to earn the trust of society by working cooperatively with attorneys general, legislators, regulators, public health officials, and other stakeholders to combat underage use and transition adult smokers from combustible cigarettes,” the spokesman said.
At Puff City on River Road in Shelton, Matt Genc, a partner in the three-year-old smoke shop, says any state laws are part of the cost of doing business. He said that banning flavored vapes would hurt sales, but that the store obeys all rules. “Whatever is legal, we’re selling and whatever is not legal, we’re not selling,” Genc said in a Friday phone interview.
January 12, 2021