A handful of medical marijuana dispensaries in Connecticut on Tuesday will expand into adult-use retail, establishing another new market on the Eastern Seaboard with sales expected to hit at least $300 million this year.
The state’s adult-use market, dominated by multistate operators, will open with only 13 cannabis companies of any kind licensed to take part in Day One sales, one of the smaller cohorts among U.S. recreational launches.
Dispensaries expect an initial surge in demand, reflecting customer enthusiasm, novelty factors and limited retail access.
Some stores are a 30-minute drive or longer from their nearest competitor.
“A deluge is coming, and we expect hundreds of thousands more potential customers plus whomever might come from neighboring states,” said Benjamin Zachs, CEO of Fine Fettle Dispensary, which has converted three of its four medical marijuana licenses into hybrid retail permits to serve recreational consumers.
Connecticut is the third East Coast state to usher in adult-use sales in just over a month, following New York’s Dec. 29 opening and Rhode Island’s Dec. 1 debut.
Recreational sales this year in Connecticut are projected to reach $300 million to $375 million, growing to $650 million-$800 million in 2026, according to the 2022 MJBiz Factbook.
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