Medical marijuana regulations await approval

Connecticut regulators are moving forward with plans to implement final rules that will govern the production, distribution and use of medical marijuana.

The Connecticut General Assembly passed a bill legalizing the palliative use of marijuana one year ago this month, requiring state officials to submit proposed regulations for approval by July 1.

Under Commissioner William M. Rubenstein, the Department of Consumer Protection has led the regulatory drafting process and is currently modifying its recommendations based on a recent public hearing in April.

“We have gotten a lot of good reception,” Rubenstein said. “I think we”™ve done a good job of designing a system where the product is used only for medical purposes.”

If the legislature approves the draft regulations, medical marijuana dispensaries could be up and running in as little as six months, but Rubenstein said it is more likely that distributors would open by the second or third quarter of 2014. If the regulations aren”™t approved, the process could take longer.

Roughly 550 patients have applied for a registration card with the state. To receive a card, patients must have a doctor”™s recommendation, be at least 18 years old, a Connecticut resident and have a debilitating condition such as cancer, glaucoma, Parkinson”™s disease, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy or one of several other illnesses.

Rubenstein said it was difficult to tell how many more patients will apply for a registration card given that Connecticut is still in the early stages of developing its regulatory model. He also said it”™s difficult to tell how many jobs and how much revenue the new industry will generate.

However, every indication shows that there will be a lot of interest in producing and distributing the drug to patients, Rubenstein said, adding that producers from other states that allow the use of medical marijuana have also expressed an interest in joining Connecticut”™s system.

Connecticut is one of 18 states, plus the District of Columbia, that have passed laws legalizing the use of marijuana for certain medical purposes. As of late April, votes to legalize medical marijuana were pending in 10 other states, including New York.

Unlike many other states, Connecticut”™s system has sought to classify medical marijuana like any other prescription drug, Rubenstein said.

“We treat it the same as we treat other controlled pharmaceutical substances, with the same high degree of control,” he said. “The major challenge is starting an industry from scratch and using a model we have to create ourselves.”

Growers will be separate from dispensers and there won”™t be any middle men allowed to produce secondary products like brownies and other items. Edibles and tinctures will need to be made directly by the producer, if they are to be sold, under the draft regulations.

The state will license only three to 10 producers. Each will be required to establish a $2 million escrow account that the state may seize if its operations are not timely and successful.

At the public hearing late April, several potential producers warned the proposed escrow amount may be too high and felt there were not enough protections against the state illegally seizing the account, especially since medical marijuana is still considered illegal at the federal level.

Rubenstein said the amount was set at a price that would ensure the program was self-sustaining.

“All the state can do is control what it can do,” Rubenstein said. “What we”™ve tried to do is create a system that doesn”™t attract attention, distributes marijuana for its medical purposes and assure it”™s not being used for purposes outside of that.”