Amid new cannabis legislation, CT is trying to crack down on smoke shops

State Rep. Dave Rutigliano describes himself as “anti-cannabis.”

The Trumbull Republican, ranking member of the legislature’s general law committee, has now found himself in favor of laws that he said would support Connecticut’s legal cannabis industry.

The state this year is creating a legal framework for enforcement of illegally sold cannabis, specifically targeting smoke shops. While legislators and regulators say more enforcement is necessary to stop the illegal sale of cannabis, some smoke shop owners believe Connecticut is re-criminalizing hemp, which has been legal since 2018.

“Basically, we're helping the dispensaries, because these are all people who are selling it outside of the legal marketplace,” Rutigliano said. "I believe that those folks in the dispensaries, not unlike a package store or something like that, they vet it's 21 and older before you get in there."

"There's a million of these smoke shops, and don't tell me that they're sitting there worried about what ages of any of these people walking through the door," he said.

To that end, the legislature has approved three changes to support the enforcement of illegally sold cannabis. First, the state’s Department of Consumer Protection will this year formalize its cannabis control division, separating it from the agency’s drug control division. 

Also being created is a statewide cannabis and hemp enforcement policy board, consisting of representatives from a squadron of state agencies, including DCP, the state’s Social Equity Council, the attorney general’s office, the office of the chief state’s attorney and the departments of health, revenue services, and emergency services and public protection.

“It's policy focused, looking at the enforcement needs of the illegal market, scientific data, national trends and the best practices related to enforcement and development in the industry,” said DCP spokesperson Kaitlyn Krasselt.

There will also be a formal enforcement task force, which while ongoing for more than a year will now been enshrined in state law. Krasselt called it “a collaborative enforcement effort with us and the town and cities and DRS and everyone who has a role in this space to deal with the enforcement of the illegal products being sold out of vape shops.”

Rutigliano said the goal is “streamlining” a process that has already been in place.

“A couple years ago, when we were asking for enforcement, we would find a smoke shop or a convenience store selling things they weren't supposed to sell, that the DCP person who has one license for the establishment would have to coordinate with either local police, the state's attorney and DRS,” he said. “You'd have to get four agencies together before they can go in and take action against a store illegally selling marijuana.”

Attorney General William Tong’s office has announced raids on more than a few smoke shops around Connecticut, saying they sold illegal, untested, chemically questionable cannabis products, and alleging other crimes, as well.

“If you are unlicensed, if you sell untested, unregulated cannabis, if you sell to minors, we will know, and we will hold you accountable,” Tong said in January. 

But Kristin Souza believes the state is “recriminalizing” cannabis, after making it legal. The law has changed multiple times in recent years, making it difficult for smoke shop owners to follow. 

“I don't believe that all of them are bad actors,” she said. “Of course, there are certainly circumstances where folks are doing things they very much know are not legal, and I don't agree with that. People in the regulated industry have spent a lot of money to get into the regulated industry and pay for their license, and millions of dollars to get started, and they're at a real disadvantage when you have places like gas stations selling things.”

Souza owned a CBD shop in Middletown until state regulations made much of her products illegal to sell. 

“When I did have my CBD store, I would get a catalog every month. I think it was like a B to B smoke shop-type catalog, and it was selling all of these products that I could legally purchase,” she said. Then the law changed. “It was the legislative session of 2023 where Connecticut really cracked down on our ability to sell full spectrum CBD and made CBD items essentially illegal. We all know brick and mortar retail stores struggle a little bit anyway. It essentially criminalized my entire product line, and they essentially closed me and put me out of business.”

Last year, a group of smoke shop owners and investors sued the state in federal court alleging a violation of federal law.

Plaintiffs in that case allege that attempts to limit the sale of THC, the substance in cannabis that gets you high, conflict with the 2018 federal law that made hemp legal. That lawsuit is still pending, with discovery materials due in August. 

Westbrook attorney Genevieve Park Taylor, who is representing the plaintiffs, said that “by creating ‘hemp squads’ specifically designed for smoke shop store raids, Connecticut has effectively re-criminalized hemp products.”

“The targeting of smoke shops is very troubling, especially since we have a federal action challenging Connecticut law, where the plaintiffs are smoke shops,” she said. “This new enforcement action seems far beyond the stated purposes of Connecticut law to promote public safety and inherently provides for disparate treatment to smoke shops over all other retailers. It raises a host of issues, including discrimination.”