Timeline For When You Can Buy Pot In CT Released By Gov. Lamont

CONNECTICUT — Gov. Ned Lamont took to Twitter yesterday to answer questions about state government and his goals going forward.

Lamont opened up to questions with the hashtag #AskNedAnything. People asked about car taxes, recreational cannabis and state-produced insulin among other topics.

Here are some of the topics Lamont talked about:

Cannabis

Connecticut is about six months away from opening its recreational cannabis retail market, Lamont said.

Connecticut legalized recreational cannabis for adults last year and has been setting up the regulations for the recreational supply chain.

There are eight license types related to retail cannabis, ranging from cultivators to retailers.

Municipalities may have one cannabis retailer and one licensed micro-cultivator per 25,000 residents. Municipalities also have discretion to prohibit retail sales.

Car taxes

Lamont touted Connecticut capping the car tax mill rate at 32.46 this year, which gave $100 million in relief to residents of 75 municipalities.

He agreed that the car tax is one of the most regressive taxes in Connecticut and said the state.

Many Connecticut car owners saw higher tax bills recently as used car prices soared amid the auto supply chain crunch.

COVID-19

COVID-19 infection rates are rising in Connecticut, but hospitalizations have been stable, Lamont said. The state maintain a stockpile of PPE.

Federal authorities recently announced that pharmacists will be able to prescribe Pavloxid to eligible patients. State officials are working to implement the rule in Connecticut, Lamont said.

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Bipartisanship

Lamont said he tries to do as much as possible on a bipartisan basis. He cited recent bills that addressed crime and mental health. He also called the budget bill bipartisan, however, no House Republicans and a limited number of Senate Republicans voted in favor of it.

Digital driver’s licenses

Lamont said digital driver licenses for those who want them will be the next innovation for modernizing state government.

Arizona was the first state to implement digital driver’s licenses on Apple iOS devices. About another dozen states, including Connecticut, plan to join the program.

CT insulin

Connecticut capped insulin prices at $25 for a 30-day supply and $100 for a 30-day supply of testing equipment. The caps apply to state-regulated health insurance plans.

Lamont said he would talk to California Gov. Gavin Newsom about the Golden State’s plan to produce its own insulin and how Connecticut could potentially do the same.

Walkable towns

The state is giving municipalities Community Connectivity Grants to make streets and sidewalks safer for pedestrians, Lamont said. The grants are also aimed at revitalizing downtown areas in towns and cities.

Farming

Lamont said Connecticut farmers are ready to step up and fill whatever market demands America needs.

“Connecticut has an outstanding community of farmers that will step up to whatever the market demands or America needs,” he tweeted. “We're also working hard to expand climate-smart agriculture and limit GHG emissions from other sectors in order to preserve a hospitable climate for agriculture.”

The response to a question about whether Connecticut could fill a potential void in U.S. agricultural output if drought conditions persist in the West.

His playlist

Lamont said he is a big Hamilton musical fan and has seen the play four times.

"We are coming up on Jerry Garcia's 80th birthday, so I'm listening to a little more Grateful Dead, and I always like Lynyrd Skynyrd," he said.