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December 30, 2022

CTPharma has room to grow ahead of state’s recreational cannabis launch

HBJ Photo | Steve Laschever Grace Bondy from Verano looks at drying cannabis at CTPharma in Rocky Hill.
HBJ Photo | Steve Laschever
HBJ Photo | Steve Laschever CTPharma employee Anthony Velez holds up a recently filled joint at the company's Rocky Hill cultivation facility.
HBJ Photo | Steve Laschever Verano North Region EVP Rino Ferrarese touches one of CTPharma's many cannabis extraction-related machines at the company's Rocky Hill cultivation facility.

As Connecticut prepares to begin adult-use recreational cannabis sales early next year, marijuana growers in the state have been expanding production in an attempt to allay any supply concerns when the market launches.

And some marijuana growers are keeping an eye on the market for more expansion opportunities in the future. CTPharma, one of the four active cannabis cultivators in the state, has two 40,000-square-foot rooms on its Rocky Hill property for expansion in the future.

If built across two floors, the company could add 160,000 square feet of grow space in those areas without having to relocate or do exterior add-ons. The company currently has about 110,000 square feet of cannabis grow space, but the whole facility is 216,000 square feet.

HBJ Photo | Steve Laschever
CTPharma in Rocky Hill has two 40,000-square-foot rooms at its current site for possible expansion in the future.If built across two floors, the company could add 160,000 square feet of grow space in those areas without having to relocate or do exterior add-ons. The company currently has about 110,000 square feet of cannabis grow space, but the whole facility is 216,000 square feet.

“There’s a lot of room to expand out here,” said Rino Ferrarese, CTPharma’s executive vice president for the north region. 

Recreational cannabis sales are set to begin in Connecticut on Jan. 10. When retail dispensaries open, the product on store shelves will come from the state’s four medical growers that have switched to cultivation licenses: Advanced Grow Labs, owned by Green Thumb Industries; CTPharma, owned by Verano Holdings; Curaleaf; and Theraplant, owned by Greenrose Holding Company.

All of the companies are owned by multi-state operators.

HBJ Photo | Steve Laschever
CTPharma employee Kyle Gibson packs joints for five-pack containers at the company's Rocky Hill facility.

In addition to growing cannabis, the state’s current cultivators manufacture the product in various forms. In early December, Ferrarese said CTPharma had 400,000 pre-rolled joints ready for the launch of recreational sales, and more were being made.

“But hey that’s not even one joint per person, so we’re going to need to make more,” Ferrarese said.

He said one of the company’s machines fills between 25 and 30 containers of cannabis flower per minute, and another machine for vaporizers fills 1,200 cartridges an hour.

Verano Director of Communications Steve Mazeika said the company has a footprint in 14 states, 13 of which are currently operational. With room to expand in Rocky Hill, Mazeika said Verano is paying close attention to Connecticut’s launch as it prepares for potential expansion.

“As you see the market grow, you invest ahead of that growth,” Mazeika said of Verano’s process. “You don’t want to overbuild and then oversupply the market.”

HBJ Photo | Steve Laschever
Verano North Region EVP Rino Ferrarese shows off young plants at CTPharma's Rocky Hill cultivation facility.

Ferrarese said they’d assess the need to expand in late summer after giving at least six months for the state’s adult-use market to shape up. New York and other states in the northeast have, or are close to opening, their recreational markets, so monitoring the region’s cannabis economy as a whole is important, he said.

“We need to see what the market’s going to look like, then respond accordingly,” Ferrarese said.

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