Many companies want to join Connecticut’s medical marijuana program

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HARTFORD >> Applications for licenses to produce and dispense pot as part of Connecticut’s new medical marijuana program are dominated by in-state entrepreneurs, according to lists released Friday evening by the state.

Twenty-one applications for the state’s new dispensary license and 16 applications for the producers’ license were submitted to the Department of Consumer Protection.

All of the applicants for dispensary licenses were from Connecticut. Some filed multiple applications for different locations. For example, Manchester-based Constitution Care LLC submitted three applications and CT Wellness Centers LLC in Fairfield submitted two applications. Each application had to be accompanied by a nonrefundable $1,000 fee.

All but one of the 16 producer applicants are based in Connecticut. The lone out-of-state applicant, Breakwater Production Facility, listed a New York City address. Each application package had to be accompanied by a nonrefundable $25,000 fee.

Friday marked the final day of the application period for the new program.

The agency will immediately begin a confidential review, said spokeswoman Claudette Carveth.

“The review process will continue until license award determinations have been made,” she said in an email. The agency anticipates granting three producer licenses and three to five dispensary licenses by early next year. The licenses will be publicly announced.

Consumer Protection Commissioner William Rubenstein has said the number of facilities will ultimately depend on the demand for the product. As of September, 980 patients had been certified to participate in the program, a figure that is expected to climb as a legal supply of the drug becomes available.

Among the applicants for a marijuana producer license is the Connecticut Cannabis Consortium, or C-Three, of Orange. Thomas Macre, the company’s executive director and the owner of a medical supply company, has said that if he’s successful he plans to purchase an empty 85,000-square-foot old factory in Waterbury. Macre expects to invest $1.5 million to $2 million into his venture, which is supported by Waterbury Mayor Neil O’Leary.

Other applicants hail from communities throughout Connecticut, including Fairfield, Essex, Watertown, Wallingford, East Hampton, Greenwich, Manchester, Fairfield, Bloomfield, Bridgeport, South Windsor, Southington, Ledyard and East Haven. However, the applicants’ business addresses are not necessarily the same addresses as their proposed facility.

Under recently adopted state regulations, the producers will only be allowed to cultivate and manufacture products containing marijuana, selling them for wholesale purposes. Rubenstein has likened the dispensaries to pharmacies that will only be allowed to sell prepackaged products delivered by the producers.