Connecticut residents will be legally allowed to grow cannabis for recreational purposes on July1, but where they will legally obtain seeds, seedlings or clones remains an open question in a legal gray area.
For some, the answer may be Massachusetts, where the Cannabis Control Commission announced last week that both cannabis seeds and seedlings can now be legally sold.
“I’m proud that for the first time ever, Massachusetts residents will now be able to purchase both seeds and clones from licensed retailers and dispensaries that are closely regulated and tracked,” commission Executive Director Shawn Collins said.
Fine Fettle has dispensaries in both Connecticut and Massachusetts, but COO Ben Zachs said they have not yet figured out how to be involved.
“We’re figuring out the strategy of how to be a part of that market,” he said. “We’re figuring out, ‘how do we do it? How do we embed ourselves into that available market? ‘”
In Connecticut, the law that made legal the recreational use of cannabis and set out the framework for its cultivation and sale, called RERACA, makes no mention of seeds or seedlings, other than the stipulation that the state’s cannabis tracking system “shall track each cannabis seed, clone, seedling or other commencement of the growth of a cannabis plant or introduction of any cannabinoid intended for use by a cannabis establishment.”
Department of Consumer Protection spokesperson Kaitlyn Krasselt said: “Seeds that contain 0.3 percent or less of THC would be considered hemp and would not be regulated by DCP.”
Though cannabis is still federally outlawed, the 2018 federal farm bill, however, made legal – nationwide – the sale and cultivation of cannabis plants containing less than 0.3 percent THC, classified as hemp.
Seeds, though, have no discernable THC. They may be hemp seeds or they may be seeds of a plant with a high concentration of THC There’s no way to tell the difference until they flower.
The federal Drug Enforcement Agency said as much in a 2022 letter to New York lawyer Shane Pennington, essentially opening the door to the nationwide sale of cannabis seeds, “tissue culture and any other genetic material,” as long as it does not contain more than 0.3 percent THC, regardless of what it might grow into.
That is how cannabis seeds are sold online and shipped across state lines.
“It’s just one of those things,” state Rep. Mike D’Agostino, D-Hamden, said this week when asked about seeds. “It’s sort of like a, ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ kind of issue.”
As for live plants, Krasselt said, “RERACA only permits licensed growers (producers, cultivators, and micro-cultivators) to possess live plants. Licensed retailers, hybrid retailers and medical dispensaries are not permitted to possess or sell live plants.”
Under state law, dispensaries may sell flower but not plants, while cultivators may grow plants but not sell them.
But micro-cultivators, by law, are allowed to both grow cannabis and sell it directly to consumers, Krasselt confirmed, meaning that they could, theoretically, sell plants.
“Micro-cultivators are not precluded from selling seedlings directly to consumers,” she said. “Like all other cannabis products, they would need to register a brand with DCP and go through the steps to ensure the product is appropriately tested and tracked in the seed-to-sale inventory system.”
At the moment, that’s moot. While there are currently six licensed micro-cultivators in Connecticut, defined as growers with between 2,000 and 10,000 square feet of grow space, none are yet up and running.
When asked if dispensaries and growers might be unwilling to encourage home-grown cannabis, Zachs said Fine Fettle, at least, is in favor.
“We firmly believe that this industry needs normalization and de-stigmatization,” he said. “That is a core tenet of Fine Fettle’s belief system.”
He noted that people have been brewing their own beer and wine for generations, with no effect on alcohol sales.
“We sort of look at it as like, people can brew their own beer,” Zachs said. “Is it more than a hobby? I don’t exactly know, but we think it’s good and fun and an interesting part of the market and we also think that it lowers the stigma around cannabis.”
And, while “cannabis is called weed for a reason — it will just grow,” Zachs said, “to grow it well is really hard. Making your own good beer is really hard. I’ve had a lot of crappy homebrews.”
Zachs said they’re just not sure yet where Fine Fettle fits into the homegrow market, either in Connecticut or in Massachusetts.
“We’re not going to sell lights, we’re not going to sell tents. That’s not our business,” he said. “But if we had the opportunity to sell seeds in Connecticut, we’d assess how to do it but we will absolutely wait for the regulations to give us the go ahead to do that.”
As of July 1, recreational growers will be allowed to possess three mature and three immature plants.
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