One state has a shortage of marijuana. Its neighbor had too much. What to do?
ABC News
Cannabis retailers in Connecticut are experiencing a shortage of marijuana, while just across the border in New York growers recently dealt with an excess
HARTFORD, Conn. -- Marijuana retailers in Connecticut say a dearth of licensed growers in the state’s fledgling legal pot industry has left them with a shortage of product to sell.
The supply problem has appeared after slow retail growth in neighboring New York last year left growers there struggling with the opposite: an excess of supply.
It would seem both problems could easily be solved by shipping product a few miles over state lines. But that would violate federal drug laws. So each state that legalizes marijuana is left with its own process for licensing growers and sellers, and trying to create a balance between the two within state borders.
Benjamin Zachs, the chief operating officer of Fine Fettle, which operates five dispensaries in Connecticut, said he worries that low supply in stores is leading some customers back to their former, illegal dealers, and across state lines where he cannot go to get product.
When recreational sales became legal in Connecticut in January 2023, he said, there were seven dispensaries in the state and four producers.
