As a Republican state senator representing Lyme and Old Lyme, Art Linares voted against cannabis legalization and vocalized his opposition on the Senate floor.
Linares is on record calling cannabis a “gateway drug,” and said it contributed to the ongoing opioid crisis. He said young people were becoming “addicted to relieving pain with this substance.”
During a senate session in 2016, Linares said the state’s decision to legalize cannabis for medical purposes “has really desensitized our youth.”
“When they think about marijuana, they don’t think about it as something that can be harmful to their brain development, threatening to their future, and that’s a problem,” Linares said in 2016. “Because science will tell us that it can harm their ability to do well in school, their ability to perform in athletics, their ability to be a good friend, to be a good son, daughter to their family.”
Now Linares, owner of Linares Land Capital LLC and married to Stamford Democratic Mayor Caroline Simmons, is helping to fund a cannabis cultivation operation that has been granted a license by the state’s Social Equity Council.
The majority owner and social equity applicant is Steve Van Scoy. The operation is backed by Linares Faye LLC, a company run by Linares and his father, Luis Arturo Linares, and mortgage broker Brian Faye, according to state records.
“Over time, my views have evolved with the changing landscape and research regarding medical and recreational cannabis,” Linares said by email. “I discovered that cannabis wasn’t the problem, rather it was a solution for some problems. For example, cannabis products help people address anxiety, insomnia and can provide a sense of well-being.”
“My interest in promoting the benefits of cannabis and investing back into the community led me to pursue this business venture. Society’s views changed and so have mine,” he said.
Linares left public service in 2018 after an unsuccessful bid for state treasurer. That means he is eligible to be involved in cannabis businesses under the Responsible and Equitable Regulation of Adult-Use Cannabis Act, which prohibits state legislators and others from applying for any type of cannabis establishment license for a period of two years after leaving state service.
State Rep. Josh Elliott, D-Hamden, who first ran for office with the recreational cannabis legalization as a focal point of his platform, noted that priorities when running for office can come from multiple places.
“The conservative portions of my district were putting out this whisper campaign that, ‘Josh just wants to legalize cannabis because he wants to be able to get into business,’” Elliott said. “I think that there’s an interesting dichotomy between me and Art in that I have no interest in the business side of this. I just thought it was the right thing to do.”
Elliott said elected leaders sometimes cast votes based on what they believe their constituency wants. Or, sometimes, “They’ll do more of what they just think is the right thing to do and then make that argument to their constituency.”
“The fact that he now owns a stake in a cannabis business, makes me wonder if those votes were necessarily representative of what he believed or if they’re more representative of what he believes that his constituency wanted,” Elliott said.
Linares said the cultivation site for the business, which is operating under the name Connecticut Social Equity LLC, expects its first harvest in the fall and has also been granted a cannabis food and beverage manufacture license. The group also applied for several other license types including cultivator, micro-cultivator, retailer and hybrid retailer.
“Art is the son of a Cuban immigrant who has found success as an entrepreneur and investor and views this as an opportunity to pay it forward by supporting a social equity applicant,” Carter Johnson, a consultant and a spokesperson for Connecticut Social Equity, said in a statement to Hearst Connecticut Media before final license approval had been granted. “Connecticut Social Equity LLC’s mission is to grow, create and sell high quality products at great locations and give back to their local community.”
Linares said they found the application and approval process to be “straightforward.”
“The Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection and the Social Equity Council have provided transparent and clear guidance on the cannabis licensing process,” he said by email. “Their commitment to transparency, fairness and responsiveness has been exemplary, ensuring that all stakeholders are well-informed and aware of the process. Their efforts have set a high standard for others to follow in the cannabis industry.”
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