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ConnecticutHB 068552025 Regular SessionHouseWALLET
AN ACT CONCERNING THE DEPARTMENT OF CONSUMER PROTECTION'S RECOMMENDATIONS REGARDING DRUG CONTROL AND CANNABIS AND HEMP REGULATION.
Sponsored By: General Law Committee
Signed by Governor
Summary
To (1) establish additional requirements concerning manufacturer hemp products and hemp flower, (2) require certain sterile compounding pharmacies to submit inspection reports, (3) require the Department of Consumer Protection to adopt regulations, policies and procedures designating additional substances as controlled substances, (4) modify the duration of written certifications for the palliative use of marijuana and authorize certain pharmacists to (A) temporarily extend such certifications, and (B) issue temporary written certifications, (5) modify certain requirements concerning a quarterly report submitted by the department, (6) redefine "backer", (7) establish a temporary cannabis operator license, (8) expand the variety of establishments to which certain cannabis establishments may sell, transport or transfer cannabis, (9) eliminate minimum separation requirements concerning certain equity joint ventures, (10) require additional persons to obtain a key employee license, and (11) redefine "container" for purposes of infused beverages.
general law
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
18 provisions identified: 8 benefits, 3 costs, 7 mixed.
Fewer marijuana certification routes for glaucoma
Beginning January 1, 2026, physician assistants and advanced practice registered nurses cannot issue marijuana certifications when glaucoma is the debilitating condition. Licensed dispensaries also cannot issue temporary certifications for glaucoma.
Cannabis shoppers can verify store licenses
Beginning July 1, 2025, cannabis establishments must display state-standard signs with a QR code or similar electronic tool. Shoppers can use it to check whether the business has an active license. People and businesses outside the licensed cannabis system cannot display state-style signs falsely claiming an active license. Signage violations are unfair or deceptive trade practices; licensed businesses can also face additional enforcement.
Hemp buyers get health-claim protections
Beginning October 1, 2025, businesses cannot make health, medical, or physical or mental benefit claims for manufacturer hemp products. The ban covers moderate-THC hemp products and hemp flower in advertising, labels, and marketing. It applies regardless of where products were made or flower was grown. Violations are unfair or deceptive trade practices.
Easier pharmacy access to overdose medicine
Beginning June 24, 2025, pharmacies and authorized prescribers can arrange standing orders for pharmacists to dispense opioid overdose-reversal medicine. The medicine can go to someone at risk of overdose or someone positioned to help them. It must be FDA-approved and delivered through the nose or by auto-injection.
Cannabis applicants gain more occupancy-proof options
Beginning July 1, 2025, final cannabis license applicants can use several forms of local approval to prove occupancy rights. Options include a certificate of occupancy, a temporary certificate, or substantially similar written approval from the local building official. The approval must verify that the premises are substantially complete.
Cannabis businesses gain more transfer options
Cannabis retailers and hybrid retailers can sell, transport, or transfer cannabis to cannabis establishments, testing laboratories, and research programs. Micro-cultivators can do the same for cannabis grown at their licensed sites, using their own employees or a transporter. Retailer permissions also cover cannabis products. The micro-cultivator authority does not authorize free cannabis or cannabis-product transfers to consumers as part of a commercial transaction.
Equity cannabis stores gain location flexibility
Beginning January 1, 2026, equity joint ventures operating as retailers or hybrid retailers can locate within 20 miles of one another. The law removes that separation rule when ventures share a cultivator, producer, dispensary facility, or hybrid retailer backer or owner.
More hemp sales count for vendors
Beginning October 1, 2025, hemp flower sales count toward vendors' 85% average-monthly-gross-revenue test alongside moderate-THC hemp products. Vendor certificates cover both, and renewals measure revenue during the preceding registration year. Manufacturers can bypass the test by making products at the retail location, or by operating under an active manufacturer license and retailing their own products. Moderate-THC manufacturer hemp products contain 0.5 to 5 milligrams of total THC per container. Infused beverages and legacy infused beverages are excluded from that definition.
Stricter pharmacy checks for compounded medicines
Beginning January 1, 2026, registered out-of-state pharmacies offering sterile compounded products in Connecticut must submit inspection reports. Reports must show compliance with the latest United States Pharmacopeia Chapter 797 standards. The initial report must cover an inspection within six months before application. Updates are due June 30 of each even-numbered year, covering an inspection on or after January 1 that year. No more than one report is required in the calendar year after initial registration.
Hemp sellers face tighter age checks
Beginning October 1, 2025, vendors cannot sell moderate-THC hemp products or hemp flower to anyone under 21. Sales away from a vendor's registered retail site require age checks at purchase and delivery. Hemp flower sellers outside the registered-vendor and licensed-cannabis groups can sell only through qualifying in-person commercial-premises sales or delivery. In stores, flower must be behind an inaccessible counter or locked up, with seller assistance required. These sellers must use valid government-issued driver's licenses or identity cards to verify buyers and delivery recipients are at least 21.
Kratom and other drugs face controls
The law requires Connecticut's consumer protection commissioner to add several substances to state controlled-substance schedules. These include kratom leaves, stems, and extracts; 7-hydroxymitragynine; bromazolam; flubromazolam; nitazenes, including isotonitazene; tianeptine; and phenibut. The commissioner assigns each to the appropriate schedule. These controls govern making, distributing, dispensing, possessing, and using the substances.
Longer medical marijuana certifications with safeguards
Beginning January 1, 2026, doctors, physician assistants, and advanced practice registered nurses can issue certifications lasting 6, 12, 18, or 24 months. The period starts when the certification is signed and dated. Certifications must state that the patient has a debilitating condition and likely benefits outweigh health risks. Licensed dispensaries can extend expired certifications for up to 90 consecutive days, acting at their employing dispensary facility or hybrid retailer. When patients lack legal capacity, clinicians can explain risks and benefits to caregivers or legally authorized medical decision-makers.
Temporary marijuana access with capped fees
Beginning January 1, 2026, licensed dispensaries can issue temporary medical marijuana certifications lasting up to 90 consecutive days. Patients must be at least 18 and have a debilitating condition. Dispensaries must review medical history and conduct an in-person assessment at their employing dispensary facility or hybrid retailer. They must check prescription-monitoring records to confirm no other licensed dispensary prescribed or dispensed marijuana during the preceding year. The certification can cost no more than $25, with no additional related fees.
Dispensary protections come with record duties
Beginning January 1, 2026, licensed dispensaries gain legal and professional-discipline protections for issuing temporary certifications. They must reasonably determine from medical history that the patient is at least 18 and has a debilitating condition. They must explain risks and benefits to the patient or, when applicable, an authorized representative. Assessment and eligibility records must remain available for at least three years, on paper at the assessment site or electronically. Dispensaries must submit them to the Department of Consumer Protection in its required format within 48 hours of a request.
Cannabis license restoration carries late fees
Beginning July 1, 2025, businesses with lapsed cannabis licenses cannot perform licensed activities or keep cannabis at the site. If a complete renewal was not received by expiration, the state may accept reinstatement applications within 90 days. Applicants must pay the current renewal fee plus 10% and attest they performed no licensed activities during the lapse. For reinstated social equity licenses, lapsed time does not count toward specified ownership and control periods. Businesses choosing not to renew must notify the state no more than 30 days before expiration to coordinate remaining cannabis disposal.
Marijuana controls follow lower federal schedules
Connecticut's consumer protection commissioner must classify marijuana as a Schedule II controlled substance. If federal officials move marijuana to Schedule III, IV, or V, or remove it from the schedules, Connecticut must follow. Federal designations also apply to FDA-approved medical marijuana products that are federally rescheduled or removed from the schedules.
Cannabis lenders get exemptions with limits
Banks and their wholly owned subsidiaries are not cannabis backers when they provide nonequity financing without directly controlling, managing, or operating the business. Beginning July 1, 2025, covered secured lenders' representatives need key employee licenses before temporarily taking over after security-agreement violations. Those representatives are exempt from state and national criminal history checks. Court appointees are outside this representative-licensing rule.
Temporary cannabis operators pay application fees
Beginning July 1, 2025, court-appointed overseers can apply for temporary cannabis operator licenses without criminal or financial history checks. Each complete application requires a nonrefundable $500 fee, credited to the state's General Fund. Licenses generally last up to 60 days, with extensions allowed when reasonably needed to resolve the court proceeding. Operators must start immediately unless the commissioner grants a written waiver, and must follow applicable operating rules.
Sponsors & Cosponsors
Sponsor
General Law Committee
Affiliation unavailable
Cosponsors
There are no cosponsors for this bill.
Roll Call Votes
House vote • 3/24/2025
GL Vote Tally Sheet-A
Yes: 0 • No: 0
House vote • 3/24/2025
House Roll Call Vote 280 AS AMENDED
Yes: 146 • No: 0
Senate vote • 3/24/2025
Senate Roll Call Vote 366
Yes: 36 • No: 0
House vote • 3/24/2025
GL Vote Tally Sheet (Joint Favorable Substitute)
Yes: 22 • No: 0
Actions Timeline
Signed by the Governor
6/24/2025legislatureTransmitted by Secretary of the State to Governor
6/23/2025legislatureTransmitted to the Secretary of State
6/23/2025legislaturePublic Act 25-101
6/11/2025legislatureOn Consent Calendar / In Concurrence
6/3/2025legislatureSenate Passed as Amended by House Amendment Schedule A
6/3/2025SenateSenate Adopted House Amendment Schedule A
6/3/2025SenateRules Suspended
6/3/2025legislatureSenate Calendar Number 595
6/3/2025SenateFavorable Report, Tabled for the Calendar, Senate
6/3/2025SenateTransmitted Pursuant To Joint Rule 17
6/2/2025legislatureHouse Passed as Amended by House Amendment Schedule A
6/2/2025HouseHouse Adopted House Amendment Schedule A 9665
6/2/2025HouseFile Number 618
4/9/2025legislatureHouse Calendar Number 379
4/9/2025HouseFavorable Report, Tabled for the Calendar, House
4/9/2025HouseReported Out of Legislative Commissioners' Office
4/9/2025legislatureReferred to Office of Legislative Research and Office of Fiscal Analysis 04/08/25 5:00 PM
4/3/2025legislatureFiled with Legislative Commissioners' Office
3/24/2025legislatureJoint Favorable Substitute
3/24/2025legislaturePublic Hearing 02/14
2/7/2025legislatureReferred to Joint Committee on General Law
2/5/2025legislature
Bill Text
Public Act No. 25-101
6/2/2025
File No. 618
4/9/2025
GL Joint Favorable Substitute
3/24/2025
Raised Bill
2/5/2025
Bill Analysis For File Copy 618
Bill Analysis for HB-6855, as amended by House "A"
Fiscal Note For File Copy 618
Fiscal Note for Amendment LCO 9665 (Revenue)
Fiscal Note for HB-6855, As Amended by House "A" (LCO 9665)
GL Joint Fav. Rpt
GL Vote Tally Sheet (Joint Favorable Substitute)
GL Vote Tally Sheet-A
House Roll Call Vote 280 AS AMENDED
House Schedule A LCO# 9665 (D)
Senate Roll Call Vote 366
Summary for Public Act No. 25-101
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