Drug Policy Watch · State Brief 2026

Connecticut

Snapshot (structured)

Adult-use cannabis: Legal since 2021 (S.B. 1201), retail sales began January 10, 2023
Medical cannabis: Legal since 2012; palliative-use program run by the Department of Consumer Protection
Home grow: Yes, 3 mature and 3 immature plants per adult, 12 plants per household
Intoxicating hemp / hemp THC: Regulated and folded into the cannabis system; high-THC hemp channeled to licensed cannabis retailers, low-dose infused beverages allowed in package stores
Psychedelics: Not decriminalized; limited state therapeutic/research pilot program, expansion advanced in 2026
Broad decriminalization: Cannabis legalized; broader drug possession not decriminalized
Harm reduction: Robust; legal syringe services, naloxone access, legal fentanyl test strips, syringe-services vending machines
Governor (party): Ned Lamont (Democrat)
Legislature control: Democratic trifecta; Democrats hold both chambers
Citizen ballot initiatives allowed: No
Enclosure pressure score: 4/5

Cannabis

Connecticut legalized adult-use cannabis when Governor Ned Lamont signed S.B. 1201 in June 2021. Licensed adult-use retail sales began January 10, 2023. Adults 21 and older may possess up to 1.5 ounces on their person and up to 5 ounces in a locked container at home or in a locked car glovebox or trunk (MPP Connecticut, MPP S.B. 1201 summary).

Medical cannabis has operated since 2012 as a palliative-use program administered by the Department of Consumer Protection. The 2026 omnibus bill (HB 5350, now Public Act 26-8) expanded medical access, including allowing qualifying out-of-state medical patients and caregivers to access Connecticut's palliative program (The Marijuana Herald, May 2026).

Home grow: Connecticut residents 21 and older may grow up to 3 mature and 3 immature plants per person, with a household maximum of 12 plants regardless of how many adults live there. Medical patients gained home-grow rights first; full adult home-grow rights phased in. Plants must be grown out of public view (Zenleaf CT laws 2026, ConnecticutStateCannabis.org laws).

Market structure: The Department of Consumer Protection issues licenses across nine categories (cultivator, micro-cultivator, retailer, hybrid retailer, product manufacturer, food and beverage manufacturer, product packager, delivery, and transporter). License entry uses a lottery system with separate social-equity and general lotteries, and a small number of large pre-existing medical operators were allowed to convert to hybrid retail and expand. There is meaningful multistate operator presence among the converted medical producers. Vertical integration is allowed for some license holders but not universally mandated. Connecticut uses a potency-based excise tax (detailed in Market and barriers). Key 2026 action centered on HB 5350 / Public Act 26-8, a wide-ranging rewrite signed by Governor Lamont on May 22, 2026, which swapped "marijuana" for "cannabis" throughout the statutes, eliminated the THC potency cap on concentrates effective October 1, 2026 (flower remains capped at 35 percent, other products at 70 percent), expanded medical access, and rewrote hemp and infused-beverage rules (Shipman & Goodwin, CT Mirror, April 2026, The Marijuana Herald, May 2026).

Hemp

Connecticut moved early and aggressively to regulate intoxicating hemp by folding it into its cannabis regime. Under Public Act 24-76 as amended by PA 24-115, the state adopted the federal hemp definition but routed potent hemp products into the licensed cannabis market. Connecticut defines "high-THC hemp" as edibles with more than 1 mg THC per serving or 5 mg per container, and "moderate-THC hemp" as edibles with 0.5 to 5 mg total THC per container, and it restricts Delta-8, Delta-10, and HHC products from general retail. The minimum purchase age is 21 for all THC hemp products (CGA report 2026-R-0019, The Marijuana Herald, Feb 2026).

HB 5350 (Public Act 26-8) further updated the framework in 2026. It clarified the legal definition to include high-THC hemp products and certain lab-made THC-type compounds. Effective October 1, 2026, infused beverages sold at package stores may contain up to 5 mg total THC per container, while infused beverages sold at cannabis retailers may contain up to 10 mg total THC per container, replacing a prior 3 mg per-container cap. Beginning December 1, 2026, infused-beverage manufacturers may obtain "intermediate hemp derivative" and incorporate it into beverages (The Marijuana Herald, May 2026, CT Mirror, April 2026).

Federal exposure and the November 12, 2026 deadline: A federal appropriations measure signed in late 2025 (the Continuing Appropriations Act, 2026) narrows the federal hemp definition from a delta-9-only 0.3 percent standard to a total-THC standard and caps consumable hemp products at roughly 0.4 mg total THC per serving or container, banning synthetic and intoxicating cannabinoids. These changes take effect November 12, 2026 (The Haze Connect, DLA Piper, Cannabis Business Times). Because Connecticut already channels potent hemp products into its licensed cannabis market rather than general retail, the state is comparatively well positioned, though its newly authorized higher-dose infused beverages (5 to 10 mg per container) sit well above the federal 0.4 mg consumable threshold, creating a possible state-versus-federal conflict for any product moving in interstate commerce. The federal change preempts state law for interstate commerce and federal enforcement. The exact interaction between Connecticut's October and December 2026 effective dates and the federal November 12 deadline is unconfirmed and worth watching.

Psychedelics

Connecticut has not decriminalized psilocybin or other psychedelics. The most prominent reform effort, HB 7065 (An Act Concerning the Decriminalization of Possession of Small Amounts of Psilocybin), would have made possession of up to one-half ounce of psilocybin a $150 fine with no jail time. It passed the House 74-65 on May 19, 2025, but was not called for a vote in the Senate before the 2025 session adjourned, so it did not become law (Marijuana Moment, LegiScan HB07065 2025, Filter).

In the 2026 session, reporting indicates the Connecticut Senate voted on April 9, 2026 to expand the state's existing psychedelics pilot/research program in anticipation of a potential FDA approval of psilocybin, broadening eligibility and research scope (Psychedelic Alpha, May 2026). That measure is SB 191, which Governor Lamont signed on June 4, 2026, expanding the pilot to adults 18 and older and removing the prior FDA-approval sunset. Connecticut had previously established a psilocybin and MDMA assisted-therapy pilot/working-group framework, but this is a limited therapeutic/research pathway, not broad therapeutic access or decriminalization.

Broader drug policy

Decriminalization: Beyond cannabis, Connecticut has not broadly decriminalized drug possession. Simple possession of small amounts of controlled substances was reduced to a misdemeanor in a 2015 reform, but it remains a criminal offense.

Harm reduction: Connecticut maintains a comparatively strong harm-reduction posture. Syringe services programs (needle exchanges) are legal and operate statewide, offering sterile syringes, fentanyl test strips, HIV and hepatitis C testing, naloxone, and treatment referrals (United Way of CT 211). The Department of Consumer Protection administers a syringe-services vending machine registration program (DCP syringe services machine). Naloxone is distributed and trained through DMHAS-funded Regional Behavioral Health Action Organizations and a statewide naloxone initiative (DMHAS Naloxone). Fentanyl test strips are promoted by the Department of Public Health (DPH fentanyl test strips). Connecticut lawmakers considered an overdose prevention center (supervised consumption site) pilot via SB 1285 in the 2025 session, heard before the Public Health Committee on February 21, 2025; it did not become law (CT Public, CGA 2025SB-01285 JFR).

Sentencing and expungement: See Equity and expungement below.

Overdose and treatment policy: Connecticut funds medication for opioid use disorder, naloxone distribution, and treatment through DMHAS and uses opioid-settlement dollars for prevention and treatment. Specific 2026 appropriations figures are unconfirmed here.

Political landscape

Governor: Ned Lamont (Democrat), who signed both the 2021 legalization law and the 2026 omnibus cannabis/hemp law.

Legislature: Democratic trifecta. Democrats hold a 25-11 majority in the State Senate and a 102-49 majority in the House of Representatives as reported for the 2026 session (Ballotpedia 2026 CT legislative session, Ballotpedia party control).

Key committee: The Joint General Law Committee has cognizance over the Department of Consumer Protection, consumer protection, occupational licensing, and alcoholic beverages, and is the primary committee for cannabis and hemp legislation (General Law Committee). The Public Health Committee handles overdose prevention and harm-reduction measures, and the Judiciary Committee handles sentencing and erasure matters.

Named reform champions and opponents: Specific named legislative champions and opponents for the 2026 cannabis, hemp, and psychedelics bills are unconfirmed in the sources reviewed. The major 2026 vehicle (HB 5350) moved as a Joint General Law Committee bill. To avoid inventing names, individual sponsor and opponent identities are listed as unconfirmed; verify via the LegiScan HB05350 record and committee rosters.

Ballot initiatives

Connecticut does not allow citizen-initiated ballot measures. There is no statewide initiative or referendum process by which citizens can place statutes or constitutional amendments on the ballot; constitutional amendments must originate in the legislature. As a result, there are no pending or 2026 citizen-initiated cannabis, psychedelic, or drug-policy ballot measures, and all reform in Connecticut proceeds through the General Assembly.

Equity and expungement

Social equity: S.B. 1201 created a Social Equity Council and reserved roughly half of initial licenses for social-equity applicants (individuals from disproportionately impacted areas meeting income and residency criteria). The first licensing round awarded 56 licenses across nine categories with 50 percent going to social-equity applicants (MPP Connecticut). Social-equity applicants pay reduced fees (50 percent lower than open-licensing fees) and receive renewal-fee discounts in early years, and the law authorized up to $50 million in bonding for startup capital, an accelerator program, and workforce training (Cannabiz Media). Cannabis excise-tax revenue is directed substantially to the Social Equity and Innovation Fund (60 percent through June 30, 2026, rising to 65 percent on July 1, 2026, and 75 percent from July 1, 2028) (MPP S.B. 1201 summary).

Expungement and record sealing: Connecticut paired legalization with broad automatic erasure of cannabis records. Roughly 44,000 cannabis convictions were automatically erased on January 1, 2023 for certain possession offenses under General Statutes section 21a-279, with no application needed. Other categories (older or later possession of up to 4 ounces, paraphernalia, and certain manufacturing/selling offenses) require a petition for cannabis erasure (Backgrounds Online, CT Clean Slate cannabis erasure). Separately, the broader Clean Slate law automatically erases many misdemeanors (7 years after the most recent conviction) and Class D and E felonies (10 years). Clean Slate erasures stalled for months due to data-system problems, then resumed in early October 2025, with about 50,000 convictions erased and more than 100,000 people expected to be cleared in the following weeks (CT Clean Slate).

Market and barriers

Taxes: Connecticut uses a potency-based excise tax: $0.00625 per mg of THC for flower, $0.0275 per mg of THC for edibles, and $0.009 per mg of THC for other cannabis products. On top of that, consumers pay the 6.35 percent state sales tax plus a 3 percent municipal cannabis surcharge that goes to the host town (MPP Connecticut, MPP S.B. 1201 summary).

License fees: For retailers, fees run $500 to enter the lottery, $5,000 for a provisional license, and $25,000 for the final license. Social-equity applicants pay roughly 50 percent lower fees and get renewal discounts in early years (Shipman & Goodwin licensing, ConnecticutStateCannabis.org business).

License caps and counts: Connecticut controls supply through lottery rounds rather than an explicit statewide hard cap, and the regulator releases license allotments by type. The first round (2022) issued 12 retailer and 4 hybrid-retailer licenses, half to social-equity participants (Shipman & Goodwin licensing). The current total number of operating licensees across all categories is unconfirmed in the sources reviewed; consult the DCP for the live count. Capital and residency: social-equity status requires Connecticut residency and income tied to disproportionately impacted areas; general applicants face high capital requirements driven by the $25,000 final-license fee and buildout costs.

Enclosure read

Connecticut scores high on enclosure pressure (4/5). The state deliberately designed its market so that the most potent and most profitable products, including high-THC hemp and higher-dose infused beverages, flow through a tightly limited set of state-licensed cannabis retailers rather than open retail. A handful of large pre-existing medical producers, several tied to multistate operators, were given an early path to convert to hybrid retail and scale, concentrating market power at the top. Entry for newcomers runs through lottery rounds with $25,000 final-license fees and significant capital needs, fencing out small undercapitalized operators despite the social-equity carve-outs. The 2026 omnibus law reinforces this by routing hemp beverages and high-THC hemp into the licensed system, and the looming federal November 12, 2026 hemp deadline will further push intoxicating products toward state-licensed channels. On the other side of the ledger, Connecticut's strong automatic expungement, social-equity licensing and funding, broad harm-reduction services, and legal home grow keep this from being a fully consolidated 5: ordinary residents retain meaningful personal-use and record-relief rights even as commercial supply consolidates.

What to watch next

October 1, 2026: Effective date for the eliminated concentrate THC cap and the new package-store infused-beverage limit (5 mg per container) under Public Act 26-8.
November 12, 2026: Federal intoxicating-hemp ban takes effect; watch for state-versus-federal conflict with Connecticut's higher-dose beverage limits and any DCP guidance.
December 1, 2026: Infused-beverage manufacturers may begin incorporating intermediate hemp derivative.
July 1, 2026: Social Equity and Innovation Fund share of excise-tax revenue rises from 60 to 65 percent.
Clean Slate erasures: continued processing of the backlog of 100,000-plus records resumed in late 2025.
Next legislative session: The Connecticut General Assembly convenes its next regular (2027) session in early 2027; the 2026 session adjourned sine die May 6, 2026. Watch for a renewed psilocybin decriminalization push and any overdose-prevention-center bill.

Regulators

Department of Consumer Protection (DCP): primary regulator for adult-use and medical cannabis, hemp, infused beverages, and syringe-services machines (DCP, CT Cannabis portal).
Social Equity Council: oversees social-equity licensing, workforce development plans, and equity funding.
Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS): naloxone, treatment, and harm-reduction programming (DMHAS).
Department of Public Health (DPH): syringe services, fentanyl test strips, and overdose prevention.

Federal exposure (2026)

Connecticut's adult-use and medical cannabis markets sit on top of federal prohibition that the 2026 federal moves only partly soften. Cannabis remains Schedule I by default. A DOJ/DEA order signed April 22, 2026 and effective April 28, 2026 (91 FR 22714) moved only FDA-approved cannabis drugs and state-licensed medical cannabis to Schedule III; recreational cannabis stays Schedule I. For Connecticut this splits the market in two. The state's medical/palliative operators, several of them the same large producers that converted to hybrid retail, gain real relief because Schedule III ends the 280E tax penalty for the medical category, letting them deduct ordinary business expenses for the first time. The adult-use side gets nothing: recreational sales stay Schedule I, 280E still applies, and a Connecticut adult-use retailer still cannot deduct normal expenses, still cannot bank normally, and still cannot move product across state lines. Schedule III does not legalize cannabis, does not authorize interstate commerce, and does not reach state recreational businesses. A broader DEA rescheduling hearing opened June 29, 2026 and may slip to 2027; nothing in it is settled.

The November 12, 2026 hemp cliff is where federal and Connecticut policy point the same direction. FY2026 agriculture appropriations (Sec. 781, sponsor Rep. Andy Harris R-MD) narrowed hemp to a total-THC standard of roughly 0.4 mg THC per container, recriminalizing an estimated 90 to 95 percent of intoxicating hemp products effective November 12, 2026. The delay bill H.R.7010 was not enacted, and the 2026 Farm Bill (H.R.7567) keeps the ban (status as described in the federal context; verify current text via the linked trackers). Connecticut already channels intoxicating hemp and higher-dose THC beverages into its licensed cannabis system through its 2026 omnibus (HB 5350 / Public Act 26-8), so the federal ban aligns with and reinforces that channeling rather than disrupting it. Practical effect: products the federal government is about to recriminalize in open retail are, in Connecticut, already being routed to DCP-licensed cannabis retailers and (for lower doses) package stores. The federal cliff removes the gray-market hemp alternative that undercut licensed operators, pushing demand toward the state-licensed channel and handing the incumbents who dominate that channel a larger captive market. The tension point: Connecticut's newly authorized 5 mg (package store) and 10 mg (cannabis retailer) per-container infused beverages sit far above the federal 0.4 mg consumable threshold, so any such product is intrastate-only and federally noncompliant the moment it would cross a state line; the precise interaction of Connecticut's October 1 and December 1, 2026 effective dates with the federal November 12 date is unconfirmed and worth watching.

Banking remains the structural squeeze. SAFER Banking has stalled in Congress, so Connecticut cannabis businesses, especially adult-use operators still under 280E and Schedule I, continue to face limited banking, cash-handling burdens, and high financing costs. This disproportionately favors well-capitalized converted multistate medical operators (MSOs) that can absorb high fees and self-finance, and disproportionately burdens the social-equity and small operators the state's lottery and equity carve-outs were meant to seat. The result is a market whose commercial supply tilts toward a handful of converted MSO-linked incumbents.

Psychedelics show federal gatekeeping overriding state ambition. Connecticut's 2025 psilocybin decriminalization bill (HB 7065) passed the House but died in the Senate, and the reported 2026 measure expands a state pilot/research program in anticipation of FDA action rather than decriminalizing (SB 191, signed June 4, 2026). Federally, psilocybin, MDMA, and ibogaine remain Schedule I; an April 18, 2026 executive order, Accelerating Medical Treatments for Serious Mental Illness [https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/04/accelerating-medical-treatments-for-serious-mental-illness/] plus FDA priority vouchers fast-track FDA review, but there is no approval yet and conditional rescheduling triggers only on FDA approval. Connecticut's deliberate posture, building a research/therapeutic pathway keyed to a future FDA approval rather than a decriminalization or access regime, is calibrated to that federal pathway, which means access in Connecticut effectively waits on the FDA.

Harm reduction is Connecticut's most exposed commons asset. The state runs robust, legal syringe services, fentanyl test strips, naloxone distribution, and syringe-services vending machines. SAMHSA guidance dated April 24, 2026 bars federal funds from being used for fentanyl test strips, clean syringes, and sterile water, while still supporting naloxone. Connecticut's syringe and test-strip programs that rely on federal dollars are directly in the path of that cut; the state would have to backfill with its own funds or opioid-settlement money to hold services steady. Naloxone access, which the state funds through DMHAS and Regional Behavioral Health Action Organizations, is comparatively insulated because federal support for naloxone continues. On fentanyl supply, the HALT Fentanyl Act (July 17, 2025) permanently placed fentanyl-related substances in Schedule I, reinforcing a federal enforcement frame that runs against Connecticut's harm-reduction approach. National decriminalization vehicles (the MORE Act, the States Reform Act) exist but are not advancing in a Republican Congress whose posture is medicalize-and-control.

Patient access and rights

This section covers what Connecticut law does and does not protect for a medical cannabis patient: use inside a hospital, and the broader rights that follow a patient into work, housing, parenting, an organ transplant list, and school. It is information, not legal advice, and it reflects the law as of July 2026. Each point links to the primary statute.

Hospital access (Ryan's Law): Connecticut has no hospital-access law in force. A bill in the 2026 session, House Bill 5242, would have required certain health care facilities to allow terminally ill qualifying patients to use cannabis, but it received a committee hearing and did not advance before the legislature adjourned sine die; it was not enacted. Note the bill's narrow reach: even had it passed, it would have covered terminally ill patients only, not every patient. Seven states have enacted a Ryan's Law protection (California in 2021, and Colorado, Delaware, Louisiana, Oregon, Virginia, and Washington in 2026), and Pennsylvania has a bill pending; Connecticut's 2026 bill stalled. The absence is the finding: a Connecticut patient has no enforceable right to use their medicine in a hospital today.

Broader protections: Connecticut protects a qualifying patient in three of the six areas, under Connecticut General Statutes Section 21a-408p. It bars employment discrimination against a qualifying patient (subsection (b)(3)), bars a landlord from refusing a person solely for being a patient (subsection (b)(2)), and bars a school from doing the same (subsection (b)(1)). Three areas are not covered: custody, organ transplant, and general medical care, where a review of Section 21a-408p found no protection. Those gaps are the finding, and they matter: a Connecticut patient has strong protection at work, in housing, and at school, but no statutory shield on a transplant list or in the custody context.

Out-of-state patients: Connecticut does not offer medical reciprocity; adults 21 and over may purchase at adult-use retailers, but an out-of-state patient does not receive the medical patient protections above.

The federal picture: the April 2026 federal move of state-licensed medical cannabis to Schedule III did not change any of this. Schedule III does not make dispensary cannabis a lawful prescription medicine and does not create any hospital-use right; only state law can force hospital access, and Connecticut's 2026 bill was not enacted. The broader protections above are a creature of Connecticut law, not federal law.

Sources: Connecticut patient protections, Connecticut General Statutes Section 21a-408p.

Analysis: the enclosure read in depth

Connecticut is a clear case of enclosure: the most potent and most profitable products are being funneled into a tightly limited set of state-licensed channels, and the federal moves of 2026 tighten that funnel rather than loosening it. The state built this on purpose. High-THC hemp and higher-dose THC beverages flow through DCP-licensed cannabis retailers (and, for lower doses, package stores) rather than open retail, and a handful of large pre-existing medical producers, several tied to multistate operators, were handed an early path to convert to hybrid retail and scale before the lottery seated anyone else. Entry for newcomers runs through lottery rounds carrying a $25,000 final-license fee plus buildout and capital needs, which fences out small, undercapitalized, and informal actors even with the social-equity carve-outs in place. The people fenced out are the gray-market and small hemp sellers, undercapitalized would-be retailers, and informal operators; the people who consolidate are the converted MSO-linked incumbents who already hold the medical-to-hybrid pipeline and the balance sheet to ride out 280E and the banking squeeze.

The state-plus-federal interaction is what pushes the score to the high end. On its own, Connecticut's design is consolidating but bounded. Layer on the federal picture and the boundaries tighten. Schedule III relief flows to the medical category, which in Connecticut is largely the same converted incumbents, widening their cost advantage over adult-use-only and small operators who remain under 280E. The November 12, 2026 hemp cliff recriminalizes most intoxicating hemp in open retail nationwide, eliminating the cheap gray-market substitute and channeling that demand straight into the state-licensed system the incumbents dominate, exactly the system Connecticut's omnibus already built. Stalled SAFER Banking keeps capital and banking scarce, which favors the self-financing MSOs. The net federal vector, medicalize-and-control, favors large incumbents and fences out small and informal actors and hemp, and Connecticut's licensed-channel design is the local mechanism that captures that vector.

The countervailing commons moves are real and are the reason this is not a 5. Connecticut paired legalization with broad automatic cannabis erasure (roughly 44,000 records cleared automatically in January 2023) and a wider Clean Slate program that resumed processing in late 2025 with tens of thousands more cleared, so ordinary residents got meaningful record relief rather than just a new commercial regime. The Social Equity Council, the reserved-license lottery, reduced fees, bonding authority, and a rising Social Equity and Innovation Fund share (60 to 65 percent on July 1, 2026, climbing to 75 percent by 2028) are genuine redistribution mechanisms, even if capital barriers blunt them. Legal home grow (3 mature and 3 immature plants per adult, 12 per household) preserves a personal-use commons outside the licensed market. And Connecticut's harm-reduction infrastructure is among the stronger in the country. The federal SAMHSA cuts threaten part of that infrastructure, but the state retains the legal authority and the funding tools (including opioid-settlement dollars) to defend it.

What to watch: whether Connecticut backfills the SAMHSA-cut harm-reduction services with state or settlement funds or lets them shrink; how DCP reconciles the October 1 and December 1, 2026 beverage rules with the federal November 12 hemp cliff; whether the post-cliff demand shift further concentrates the licensed market or whether equity licensees capture any of it; whether the 2026 DEA rescheduling hearing produces anything before slipping to 2027; and whether a renewed psilocybin decriminalization push returns in the 2027 session or the state stays pegged to the FDA pathway. On balance, deliberate channeling of the most profitable products into a limited, incumbent-heavy licensed system, high entry fees, and a federal layer that rewards the same incumbents justify a high enclosure score, while the strong expungement, equity, home-grow, and harm-reduction commons hold it just below the maximum. Enclosure pressure score: 4/5.

Active legislation (2026)

The 2026 regular session convened February 4, 2026 and adjourned sine die May 6, 2026, so most 2026 bills are now resolved (enacted or dead) rather than pending.

Beyond the live tracker

These measures are not in the live bill list below: some are not bills (executive orders, rules, referendums, or budgets), and some are proposals or prior-session measures the live tracker does not currently carry.

2026 psychedelics pilot expansion Expansion of state psychedelics pilot/research program ahead of possible FDA psilocybin approval (Now identified as SB 191, signed by Governor Lamont on June 4, 2026, expanding the state psychedelics pilot ahead of possible FDA psilocybin approval. (source))

Bill	Title/Topic	Chamber	Status	Sponsor(s)
HB 5350	An Act Concerning Cannabis, Hemp and Infused Beverage Regulation (omnibus: medical expansion, THC caps, hemp, beverages)	House (originated), passed both chambers	Signed by Gov. Lamont May 22, 2026 as Public Act 26-8	Joint General Law Committee (committee bill); individual sponsors unconfirmed
HB 5222	Cannabis-related measure (reported passed Senate in 2026 coverage)	House	Reported passed; exact final status unconfirmed	Unconfirmed
2026 psychedelics pilot expansion	Expansion of state psychedelics pilot/research program ahead of possible FDA psilocybin approval	Senate (reported Senate vote Apr 9, 2026)	Now identified as SB 191, signed by Governor Lamont on June 4, 2026, expanding the state psychedelics pilot ahead of possible FDA psilocybin approval. (source)	Unconfirmed
SB 1285 (2025)	An Act Establishing an Overdose Prevention Center pilot	Senate	Heard 2025; did not pass	Unconfirmed
HB 7065 (2025)	Decriminalization of small amounts of psilocybin	House	Passed House 74-65 (2025); died in Senate	Unconfirmed

This list is not exhaustive. For the full set of 2026 cannabis, hemp, psychedelic, and drug-policy bills and their live status, see the Connecticut General Assembly bill tracker, LegiScan Connecticut, and Marijuana Moment. The HB 5350 / Public Act 26-8 record is on LegiScan and the OLR bill analysis.

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A planning snapshot for 2026, not legal advice. Policy moves quickly; confirm any single detail against the cited sources before acting on it. Sponsor names are given where confirmable and marked unconfirmed otherwise.

About the author. Jessica Mantonya is the founder of Drug Policy Watch and Hold in Common. She also advises operators, advocates, and funders on regulatory strategy and anti-enclosure positioning. Work with her →