“From my viewpoint, this is a positive development both for the state and the cannabis industry in Connecticut.”

By Mark Pazniokas and Andrew Brown, CT Mirror

The Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection is removing oversight and enforcement of the marijuana industry from the agency’s Drug Control Division less than a month after state officials apologized for what appeared to be a retaliatory inspection at a cannabis cultivation facility.

The licensing, regulatory and inspection functions for the industry will be shifted to a separate division within the Department of Consumer Protection (DCP), the agency announced on Wednesday. Lila McKinley, a DCP attorney who has been involved in developing the regulations for Connecticut’s adult-use cannabis market, will lead that new arm of the agency.

The regulatory shift was being developed before state officials were forced to apologize for the inspection incident at cultivation facility in Portland, but its implementation was accelerated as a result, a department spokesperson said.

DCP officials sent an email to all of the licensed cannabis operators in the state Wednesday morning informing them of the creation of the new regulatory office, which oversee both medical and recreational marijuana.

“For nearly a year, we have contemplated organizational changes that would allow for more specialized attention to your complex and growing industry,” the message to license holders said. “This change reflects your evolving industry as we are restructuring to better meet your regulatory needs.”

Bryan Cafferelli, the commissioner of consumer protection, said the way the state previously regulated the cannabis industry made sense when dispensaries were limited to selling medical marijuana. But he said the oversight functions needed to change now that Connecticut companies are selling tens of millions of dollars in recreational weed every month.

“Restructuring the Drug Control Division has been in the works for nearly a year, as we contemplated the best way to meet the growing needs and complexities of the cannabis industry while ensuring continued success in our regulation of the pharmaceutical industry in Connecticut,” Cafferelli said in a statement.

“Our agency is adapting to meet the needs of both industries and protect public health and safety,” he added.

Rep. Roland J. Lemar (D), the co-chair of the General Law Committee, said he welcomes the reorganization under McKinley, who has worked at DCP for more than a decade and most recently served as the legal program director for the Drug Control Division.

“From my viewpoint, this is a positive development both for the state and the cannabis industry in Connecticut. I think she has a great relationship with the industry. She knows it well as an attorney who has worked through a number of issues over the past few years,” Lemar said.

Rodrick J. Marriott, a pharmacist by training, will remain as director of DCP’s Drug Control Division, which will continue to regulate pharmacies and controlled-substance providers and manufacturers.

It was under Marriott’s leadership that state inspectors from the Drug Control Division conducted the unannounced visit at a cultivation facility owned by Affinity Grow last month.

DCP officials have declined to say who ordered that inspection, which took place a day after Rino Ferrarese, Affinity Grow’s chief executive, criticized the state’s testing protocols for recreational marijuana during a legislative hearing.

Cafferelli, the DCP commissioner, apologized for the incident the following day and made no attempt to suggest there was a legitimate reason for what he called an “unannounced compliance check.”

Some cannabis business owners in the state said they were not aware prior to Wednesday that DCP intended to shift regulatory oversight for their industry to a new division. But they believed the move would be positive for the state and their businesses.

Ben Zachs, an executive with Fine Fettle, which operates multiple dispensaries in the state, said shifting oversight to a division devoted solely to cannabis is a sign of the industry growing and maturing in Connecticut.

The number of cannabis companies in operation in Connecticut continues to grow, Zachs said, and the rate of that growth requires more focus on the part of state regulators.

“I think it’s good that cannabis will be treated as its own department,” he added. “The scale needs a different focus and prioritization.”

Zachs was complimentary of DCP’s management of the industry in past years, and he said he looks forward to working with McKinley, who he said is familiar to everyone in the state’s growing cannabis industry.

“We’ve worked with Lila for years now. I’ve always found her to be thoughtful and open-minded,” Zachs said.

Adam Wood, the founder of the Connecticut Cannabis Chamber of Commerce, also spoke highly of McKinley, who has represented the state within the Cannabis Regulators Association, a body made up of state agencies that oversee recreational marijuana markets.

“Lila is extremely well qualified and very knowledgeable here in Connecticut and beyond our borders,” he said.

Wood said shifting licensing and inspection to a dedicated cannabis office is taking place at an opportune time as companies continue to stand up new dispensaries and grow facilities.

“There is a lot of cultivation and new manufacturing just coming online,” Wood said.

This article first appeared on CT Mirror and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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Photo courtesy of Chris Wallis // Side Pocket Images.