ROCKY HILL, Conn. — In Rocky Hill, a former pharmaceutical facility is now Connecticut’s largest marijuana production facility. CT Pharma, operated by parent company Verano, has been gearing up for this moment for a decade.
“It’s the end of prohibition—almost for I think the entire northeast,” said Rino Ferrarese, EVP at Verano.
Before, adults 21 and over walk into one of seven hybrid medical and recreational marijuana shops across Connecticut and leave with strains like “Cherry Punch” or “Minty Haze,” those products have to be grown, harvested, and prepared for sale. Much of that happens inside CT Pharma’s 217-square-foot production site in Rocky Hill.
“Chemists, we’ve got a lab, we’ve got chefs, we run a kitchen. We have cultivation experts, they cultivate and grow the plant, we have pest experts, environmental experts,” said COO Darren Weiss.
It takes four months from seed to harvest. It all starts in a room where cuttings from a mother plant take about three weeks to grow roots, then eight weeks in rooms where plants mature. Lighting, humidity, and air is all controlled.
“The excitement when a state turns from medical to adult-use is electric,” said Weiss.
CT Pharma has been gearing up for recreational sales for a decade. It joined Connecticut’s Medical Marijuana Program back in 2013 and merged with Verano last year. It also operates Zen Leaf in Meriden, which is opening for recreational sales on Tuesday.
But packaging and rules for recreational vary from medical.
“We’re not allowed to sell products that exceed certain potencies. Different products such as tablets can’t be sold in the adult market, but they can be sold in the medical. Gummies can be sold in the adult-use market but not in the medical,” said Rino Ferrarese, EVP, Verano.
The company anticipates edibles will be a big hit.
“The process is very quick. It’s a very quick cook time. Then these sit in the sugar covered overnight and then they go into a counting machine, into our bottles,” said former chef Lenny Ganshirt now director of kitchen and production.
Recreational sales are opening at seven sites across Connecticut Tuesday. Sales are limited to a fourth of an ounce of flower or its equivalent in vapes and edibles.
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