Connecticut: Law Change Permitting Adults to Home Cultivate Cannabis Takes Effect on Saturday

As of this Saturday, July 1st, those age 21 or older may begin legally growing personal use quantities of cannabis at home.

Under the law, an adult may individually home cultivate up to six marijuana plants, of which no more than three may be mature. Households with more than one adult may grow a maximum of 12 total plants. The plants must be grown indoors in a locked, secured area.

State lawmakers passed legislation in 2021 legalizing the adult-use cannabis market. Provisions in the law legalizing the personal possession of cannabis took effect that July. Separate provisions that initially reduced penalties on the home cultivation of marijuana to a civil fine also took effect that year.

Other provisions permitting qualified patients the opportunity to home-cultivate marijuana took effect in October, 2021. Retail sales of cannabis products to adults did not begin until earlier this year.

As stated in the NORML document, Core Attributes of Adult Use Access Regulations, “NORML supports the right of individuals to grow their own cannabis as an alternative to purchasing it from licensed retail producers, and maintains that provisions permitting this behavior should be codified in adult use access laws. NORML maintains that the inclusion of legislative provisions protecting the non-commercial home cultivation of cannabis serves as leverage to assure the product available at retail outlets is high quality, safe and affordable.”