Connecticut Cannabis Reform Project

Evidence-first policy work on Connecticut cannabis law

The Bill

The Cultivating Caregiver Act

A 2027 proposal for the Connecticut General Assembly.

What this bill does not do

  • It does not touch adult-use cultivation. Section 21a-278c is not amended. An adult who is not a qualifying patient keeps three mature and three immature plants, twelve per household, unchanged.
  • It does not authorize licensees to sell cannabis. Cost reimbursement only, with records retained two years.
  • It does not create a retail channel or storefront for cultivating caregivers.
  • It does not expand who may use medical cannabis. Qualifying conditions and certification are untouched.
  • It does not give the Department entry into a home. No dwelling or curtilage may be entered without a warrant or written consent.

It does raise plant limits for registered patients — six mature and twelve immature, with a household cap of twenty-four among qualifying patients. That change applies to the medical program only.

Section by section

Fourteen sections. The full text is in the long-form bill below.

  1. § 1 — Legislative findings

    States the enrollment decline, the rise in certifying practitioners over the same period, the existing authority for a caregiver to assist with cultivation at § 21a-421j-39(b) of the Department’s policies and procedures, the one-patient limit and arrest-protection gap in § 21a-408b, the July 1, 2028 expiry of those policies, the absence of any statutory indoor or visibility requirement, and the existing eight-inch definition of an immature plant.

  2. § 2 — Patient cultivation amends § 21a-408d(b)

    Raises the qualifying patient limit to six mature and twelve immature plants, with a household cap of twenty-four among qualifying patients. Defines cultivation “in the primary residence” to include a secured area on the grounds: enclosed by a barrier at least six feet high, locked, on property the patient owns or has written consent to use. Deems a compliant enclosure to satisfy any public-view requirement. Makes the statutory definitions of immature and mature plant control over any departmental policy. Adds a nuisance shield for odor, preserves municipal fence and setback ordinances, excludes propagules from any plant limit, and excludes home-grown material from the personal possession limit.

  3. § 3 — Departmental authority over plant location amends § 21a-408m(b)(4)

    Removes “the location of such plants” from the delegation to the Commissioner, and bars any regulation, policy or procedure issued under §§ 21a-421j, 21a-421k or 21a-420z — naming § 21a-421j-39 — from prohibiting or conditioning compliant cultivation on the ground that it is outdoors or visible from public view.

  4. § 4 — The cultivating caregiver license new

    A state-issued license to cultivate, manufacture and distribute cannabis for medical purposes. Up to five designated patients; six mature and twelve immature plants per patient within a 500-square-foot canopy cap. Defines propagule, immature plant (rooted, not flowering, not over eighteen inches), mature plant, first responder, direct care health care worker. Possession is bounded by the licensed plant count, not by weight. Criminal history check limited to violent and firearms felonies; no controlled substance conviction may be a basis for denial.

  5. § 5 — Fees and where they go new

    $240 to $1,500 annually across six tiers. Half to the Department for administration, capped at its documented cost; half to the Connecticut Compassionate Care Fund; no portion may be used for enforcement. Lowest tier waived for veterans, first responders, direct care health care workers, and a patient's spouse, parent, child or legal guardian.

  6. § 6 — Voluntary laboratory testing new

    Subsidized testing for personally cultivated cannabis, $50 participant copayment cap, four samples per year. Results are inadmissible in any prosecution, civil enforcement, administrative proceeding or forfeiture action against the participant.

  7. § 7 — Enforcement, penalties and limits on entry new

    Graduated civil penalties with a written warning first. No entry into a dwelling or its curtilage without a warrant or written consent. Federal registration is elective, and neither holding nor applying for a license is evidence of unlawful conduct. Annual report to the General Law Committee from January 2029.

  8. § 8 — Anti-discrimination amends § 21a-408p

    School, landlord and employer protections already exist in law. This section adds cultivating caregivers to the existing protected class and adds two genuinely new protections: child custody proceedings, and state or municipal licensing.

  9. § 9 — Connecticut Compassionate Care Fund new

    A nonlapsing account assisting patients and caregivers who demonstrate financial need with background check costs, the license fee, the testing copayment and the cost of cannabis. Need is presumed for anyone on Medicaid, SNAP, SSI or SSDI. Priority to veterans, first responders and direct care health care workers. Administration capped at ten per cent. Modeled on Pennsylvania's Medical Marijuana Assistance Program.

  10. § 10 — Federal contingency new

    If any federal order affecting the classification of cannabis is amended, repealed or judicially invalidated, the act remains in full force as a matter of state law.

  11. § 11 — Construction new

    The rights and limits established by §§ 2, 4 and 5 may not be narrowed, conditioned or suspended by any regulation, policy or procedure issued under §§ 21a-408m, 21a-421j, 21a-421k or 21a-420z, including § 21a-421j-39, and regardless of whether those policies have expired or become final regulations.

  12. § 12 — Personal possession limit amends § 21a-279a(a)

    One cross-reference. The existing exclusion of home-grown material from the possession limit reaches only cannabis grown under § 21a-278c. This adds § 21a-408d(b). The gap is sharpest for patients aged eighteen to twenty, who cannot cultivate under § 21a-278c at all; for patients twenty-one and over it removes an ambiguity rather than a prohibition.

  13. § 13 — Seeds, clones and seedlings amends § 21a-420p(f)

    Strikes the words excluding qualifying patients, out-of-state patients, caregivers and out-of-state caregivers from micro-cultivator seedling sales — an exclusion the General Assembly widened from two categories to four in Public Act 26-8. The exclusion removes the medical channel, not access: the Department confirms patients and caregivers may buy seedlings from a micro-cultivator as consumers, subject to tax. Two limits survive the exclusion and are what the section actually addresses: § 21a-420p(f)(1) permits only micro-cultivators to sell seedlings, so dispensary facilities and hybrid retailers may not sell a plant at all; and § 21a-420p(f)(4) caps sales at three seedlings per consumer in any six-month period, against six mature and twelve immature a patient could lawfully grow under this bill. A registered patient aged eighteen to twenty is not a “consumer” and has no lawful retail source at all. The section opens seed and seedling sales to all licensed establishments at premises or by delivery, with seed-to-sale tracking, disapplies the three-per-six-months cap for medical buyers, caps purchases at the buyer's lawful plant count, and extends medical tax treatment. Existing testing, height, Connecticut-origin and labeling rules are preserved.

What changed in the 2027 draft

The bill was substantially revised in August 2026. These are the changes a reader familiar with the earlier draft should know about.

ProvisionWhere it stands now
Scope Medical only. The adult-use home cultivation statute, § 21a-278c, is not amended. An adult who is not a qualifying patient keeps three mature and three immature plants, twelve per household, unchanged.
Patient plant limit Six mature and twelve immature per qualifying patient, with a household cap of twenty-four among qualifying patients.
Seeds and unrooted clones Defined as propagules and treated as incidental cannabis material. They are not counted toward any plant limit, because clones fail and growers should not lose a plant slot for a cutting that never roots.
Immature and mature An immature plant is rooted, not flowering, and no more than eighteen inches. A plant that is flowering or exceeds eighteen inches is mature.
Possession No weight figure. A licensee may possess cannabis harvested from the plants they are licensed to grow, stored at the cultivation site. The plant count is the limit, and nothing may be acquired from any other source.
Criminal history Only violent felonies and firearms felonies disqualify. No conviction involving a controlled substance may be a basis for denial, suspension or revocation.
Where the fees go Half to the Department for administration, capped at its documented cost, with any excess passed on. Half to a new Connecticut Compassionate Care Fund. No portion of any fee may be used for enforcement.
Compassionate Care Fund A nonlapsing account assisting patients and caregivers who demonstrate financial need with background check costs, the license fee, the testing copayment and the cost of cannabis. Need is presumed for anyone on Medicaid, SNAP, SSI or SSDI. Priority goes to veterans, first responders and direct care health care workers. Modeled on Pennsylvania’s Medical Marijuana Assistance Program.
Anti-discrimination Amends § 21a-408p rather than duplicating it. School, landlord and employer protections already exist; the bill adds cultivating caregivers to the protected class and adds child custody proceedings and state licensing.

Documents