Cannabis is flying off shelves in Connecticut, according to state data, and adult-use cannabis transactions accounted for over half of the money coming in. Adult-use sales began on Jan. 10 and sales revenue has increased every month since the market launched.

The Department of Consumer Protection (DCP) announced in an Oct. 10 press release that new preliminary data shows combined sales for adult-use and medical cannabis totaled to over $25 million for the period from Sept. 1 to Sept. 30, 2023.

The numbers do not include adult-use cannabis taxes, and medical cannabis patients never have to pay taxes on cannabis purchases.

The Hartford Courant reports that the sales numbers represent a new record, though it’s close to the totals recorded in August.

“The adult-use market recorded more than $14.3 million in sales during the month of September, while the medical marijuana market recorded almost $11 million in sales for the same period. Adult-use sales began on Jan. 10, 2023,” the report reads.

“In September, medical marijuana patients purchased 284,116 products, and adult-use consumers purchased 376,035 products,” the report continues. “The average product price for medical marijuana patients was $38.21 in September, while the average price of adult-use products was $38.37. In September, 52 percent of sales were usable cannabis, or flower, while vapes made up 30 percent of sales. Edible products represented 11 percent of sales.”

This data was collected through BioTrack, the state’s Seed-to-Sale Tracking System, a real-time inventory system used to track an individual cannabis plant from the point it is planted as a seed or clone to the point of sale.

All medical and adult-use cannabis licensees are required to input data into this system, showing the movement of cannabis products as they are grown, manufactured, tested, and ultimately sold. (Information about the person who purchases the final cannabis product is not recorded.) 

Recreational cannabis users can purchase a quarter ounce of flower or its equivalent per transaction. Medical cannabis patients may buy up to five ounces per month.

Connecticut officials record cannabis sales data every month, so you can map the steady march of adult-use cannabis sales by looking at month-to-month sales on one of their many graphics.

DCP does not make revenue projections, set sales expectations, collect taxes, nor do they regulate prices. The DCP will make future data available at ct.gov/cannabis. The data will be updated monthly on or after the 10th of each month, and new data will continue to be added as it becomes available. Officials with the DCP urge adults who choose to smoke to do so responsibly.

Steady Pace of Sales

The numbers are nearly the same as the data collected in August. The DCP said in a press release that between Aug. 1-31, the combined total of both adult-use cannabis and medical cannabis sales reached almost $25 million.

“The adult-use market recorded more than $14 million in sales during the month of August, while the medical marijuana market recorded almost $11 million in sales for the same period,” the press release stated.

In August, medical cannabis patients purchased 278,395 cannabis products (with an average price of $39.36), while recreational consumers purchased 354,700 (with an average price of $39.49).

By product type, most sales (about 53%) included flower, followed by vape cartridges (27%), edibles (10%), extracts (7%), and “other” (4%) which pertains to products such as pills, tinctures, topicals, and more.

Medical cannabis was approved by former Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy, but sales tracking was not required nor available prior to 2023. 

Adult-use cannabis was initially signed into law by Gov. Ned Lamont in June 2021. Adult-use sales didn’t go live until January 2023, but the state collected $250,000 in sales on the first day with eight operational dispensaries. 

For adult-use cannabis, sales in January reached a total of $5 million, followed by $7 million in February, $9.5 million in March, $10 million in April, $11.5 million in May, $12.5 million in June, $13 million in July,, $14 million in August, and $14 million again in September.

But now you must add home cultivation to the picture. Officials with the DCP marked the launch of home cannabis cultivation, which went into effect on July 1.

“Adults who choose to grow their own cannabis should use safe and healthy gardening practices for growing any products they intend to consume,” DCP Commissioner Bryan T. Cafferelli said in a statement from the agency. “Plants should also be kept indoors, out of reach and out of sight from children and pets.”

Under the state’s regulations for home cannabis cultivation, adults ages 21 and older are permitted to grow up to six cannabis plants, including three immature and three mature, flowering plants. Plants must be kept secure from children, pets and others who should not be allowed access to cannabis. It’s not entirely clear how home cultivation will impact adult-use sales.

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With the launch of recreational cannabis sales in New Mexico slated for April 1, state officials say that cultivators are currently growing more than one million cannabis plants. But with the opening of dispensaries now only days away, industry insiders are questioning the state’s figures and wondering if there will be sufficient supplies of cannabis for consumers and medical patients.

This week, the state Regulation and Licensing Department’s Cannabis Control Division (CCD) announced that licensed cannabis growers have entered 1,013,178 mature plants into a statewide tracking system. The figure is more than twice as many plants as state officials estimate will be needed to serve the state’s 132,000 registered medical cannabis patients and recreational customers. Last summer, Linda Trujillo, superintendent of the Regulation and Licensing Department, told lawmakers that the cannabis industry will need about 500,000 plants to satisfy demand.

But some representatives of the state’s cannabis industry have questioned the number of plants in cultivation reported by state officials. Duke Rodriguez, president and CEO of New Mexico Top Organics-Ultra Health, told the Santa Fe New Mexican that the number is “impossible,” saying that it would require “football fields after football fields” of land to grow that many cannabis plants. Jason Greathouse, co-owner of Roswell-based Pecos Valley Production, also expressed disbelief at the state’s plant count.

“If there are a million cannabis plants in the state, I don’t know where they are,” said Greathouse. “Are they legal plants? Are they illegal plants?”

“I only have 3,000 plants in the ground,” he added, although he plans to have 20,000 by June.

Heather Brewer, a spokeswoman for the CCD, said on Tuesday that the state’s plant total is accurate, noting that it reflects information from the state’s seed-to-sale tracking system BioTrack. The data is entered by cannabis cultivators themselves, so “assuming all the information was appropriately entered, that number is accurate,” she said.

Regulators Increase Cannabis Production Limits

Early this year, CCD director Heather Thomson announced the adoption of emergency regulations to increase the plant limits for cannabis cultivators. Under the temporary rules, most growers were allowed to cultivate twice as many plants.

“We have been listening to producers, consumers and patients who are as committed as the Cannabis Control Division is to supporting a thriving cannabis industry in New Mexico,” Thomson said in January. “Doubling the plant count for licensed producers makes sense to ensure that everyone can maximize the benefits of a thriving cannabis industry.”

But Rodriquez said he does not believe that the state’s cultivators have sufficient cannabis to avoid shortages once adult-use dispensaries open on April 1.

“What we have today is what we are going to serve the market. Is it going to be enough? The answer is no,” Rodiguez said. “On day one it’s going to be a challenge as it’s going to be a challenge for maybe as long as 9 to 12 to 18 months.”

But regulators believe that there will be enough cannabis, with any temporary shortages being quickly rectified.

“I cannot imagine this nor do we anticipate stores selling completely out. Unless they were only selling one product,” Thomson said.

Brian Vicente, a founding partner of cannabis law firm Vicente Sederberg LLP, said that “New Mexico is entering an exciting new post-prohibition era” with next week’s launch of adult-use cannabis sales.

“The Governor and regulators have shown a keen interest in assisting this growth industry, while balancing the needs of various community members,” Vicente wrote in an email to High Times. “When a new state begins recreational sales, it is common to experience fluctuations in cannabis supply, as this new market settles.”

After speaking to a number of New Mexico producers, Vicente said that businesses are eager to supply the state’s new recreational cannabis market and are working to address concerns of potential product shortages.

“However, given the novel nature of this April 1 recreational launch, it’s certainly possible that demand will outstrip supply in the short term, and we may see limitations on purchase amounts or other measures to address high demand,” Vicente said.

Barbara Crawford, owner of medical pot cultivator Southwest Cannabis in Taos, New Mexico, has nearly doubled the capacity of her operation over the past two years to about 3,500 plants. But even with the new investments in production, she noted that it takes time to grow plants to maturity and harvest.

“That’s just the reality of this business,” Crawford told the Taos News. “I think we’re gonna get there eventually, but there’s going to be a shortage come June. I don’t care how many stores there are.”

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