The Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection is removing oversight and enforcement of the marijuana industry from the agency's Drug Control Division less than a month after state officials apologized for what appeared to be a retaliatory inspection at a cannabis cultivation facility.
The licensing, regulatory and inspection functions for the industry will be shifted to a separate division within the Department of Consumer Protection (DCP), the agency announced on Wednesday. Lila McKinley, a DCP attorney who has been involved in developing the regulations for Connecticut's adult-use cannabis market, will lead that new arm of the agency.
The regulatory shift was being developed before state officials were forced to apologize for the inspection incident at cultivation facility in Portland, but its implementation was accelerated as a result, a department spokesperson said.
DCP officials sent an email to all of the licensed cannabis operators in the state Wednesday morning informing them of the creation of the new regulatory office, which oversee both medical and recreational marijuana.
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