The state’s cannabis Social Equity Council this week unanimously voted to recertify its map for certain cultivator licenses following recent changes in criteria passed by the state legislature.
The Social Equity Council on Tuesday voted to recertify the 2023 Disproportionately Impacted Area (DIA) map, which is used to identify areas impacted by the War on Drugs at a higher rate than others. The map is used to determine social equity criteria for certain license types, such as the DIA cultivator license that allows eligible residents to open a large-scale grow operation of more than 15,000 square feet of grow space.
This session, the state legislature passed legislation that modified the criteria and process used to identify DIAs to include a poverty rate metric and ranking of historical conviction rates for drug-related offenses by census tract. According to information from the state, arrest and conviction records from the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection were geocoded to calculate the count of cannabis-related convictions in Connecticut from 1982-2020 by census tract, and that data was used for the map.
The change replaces the previous model of identifying eligible census tracts by unemployment rate and historical drug conviction metrics.
The new 2023 DIA map includes a total of 237 census tracts, an overall increase of 51 census tracts and nine more municipalities compared to last year’s map.
The changes won’t impact DIA cultivators that have already been selected by the state to move forward. According to information from the Social Equity Council, DIA cultivators approved last year using previous maps may also locate their cultivation businesses in the 2023 map. The council said all lottery and equity joint venture applications submitted going forward will be governed by the 2023 DIA map.
Also Tuesday, the Social Equity Council voted to recommend approval for four companies’ workforce development plans. The council also approved social equity status for an equity joint venture from Sweetspot West Hartford LLC and denied one for Central Connect LLC.
