Connecticut, California, Colorado, and Washington are among the 18 states with laws allowing for medical marijuana use under specified conditions. Connecticut's medical marijuana program was established by PA 12-55 and is administered by the Department of Consumer Protection (DCP). Patients are able to obtain temporary registration certificates until DCP regulations fully implementing the program are approved and enacted. DCP recently submitted revised proposed regulations to the Regulation Review Committee.
There are many similarities between these states' medical marijuana programs. For example, each state:
- allows patients to use marijuana if a physician documents that the patient suffers from a condition or symptoms that could be treated with marijuana (Washington allows certain other medical providers to also document the need for medical marijuana);
- provides protection under state laws for patients, as well as their primary caregivers and physicians, for specified actions relating to authorized medical marijuana use;
- specifically provides that insurers are not required to cover medical marijuana;
- prohibits the use of medical marijuana in certain settings; and
- specifies which medical conditions qualify for medical marijuana use.
- Connecticut's list of qualifying conditions is the most restrictive (e.g., it is the only one of the four states that does not include chronic or severe pain as a separate qualifying condition).
- Unlike the other three states, Connecticut's law does not (a) authorize a patient growing his or her own marijuana for medical use or (b) allow medical marijuana use by minors.
- Colorado and Connecticut require dispensaries to be state-licensed (Connecticut's licensing regulations have yet to be enacted). California and Washington do not license dispensaries.
- California, Connecticut, and Colorado issue patient registry or identification cards (registration is not mandatory in California). In 2011, Washington's governor vetoed a provision that would have created a patient registry.
- The states also differ in the amount of marijuana that patients can possess.
The law creating Connecticut's program does not explicitly mention the state Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. But while the proposed regulations have separate manufacturing, storing, dispensing, and labeling requirements, they do reference the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. The proposed regulations specifically require act compliance (1) in any area within a production facility where marijuana will be manufactured into an edible form (Proposed Conn. Agencies Reg. § 21a-408-53(b)) and (2) for producer labeling and packaging (Proposed Conn. Agencies Reg. § 21a-408-56(c)(9)).
The proposed regulations also require anyone who removes any sample or record from a dispensary facility for an investigatory purpose or as evidence, under the proposed regulations or the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, to provide a receipt, which must be kept for three years (Proposed Conn. Agencies Reg. § 21a-408-65(e)).
It is possible that other aspects of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act may apply in situations where the proposed regulations are silent.
