But there’s a “huge catch” – the licensing fee is $3 million, noted Michelle Bodian, a senior associate attorney in Vicente Sederberg’s Boston and New York offices and the lead on Connecticut licensing.
“It’s a head-scratcher,” she said – and a huge barrier to entry.
The $3 million fee sticks out in a social equity program that otherwise is considered by some to be one of the best in the country in terms of promoting greater participation among minority entrepreneurs and individuals affected by the war on drugs.
It also is believed to be by far the highest fee social equity applicants face in the U.S. marijuana industry.
The required payment, Bodian said, is baked into the recreational marijuana bill passed by lawmakers last year and signed into law.
So there’s nothing the state’s Social Equity Council can do about it.