A Message From Theraplant CEO David Goldburg
A close-up photo of Theraplant's Green G flower.
Challenges and great opportunities face Connecticut’s 10 year-old medical-use cannabis program
By David Goldburg
Since joining Theraplant in January as CEO, my primary objective has been to work with our team to improve the quality of the flower we grow and sell. We want our customers to have the best possible experience when they purchase and consume a Theraplant product – to help people feel and live better.
Over the past several months, there has been a lot of discussion regarding Connecticut’s medical program, the variety of products available, the quality of cannabis produced, testing protocols, and methods of cannabis flower processing. I would like to address these important issues.
First, for those who are less familiar with the history of the state’s cannabis program, Connecticut was the 17th state to join the country-wide movement to legalize cannabis when it was signed into law in 2012. Theraplant is the first of the original four licensed cannabis cultivators in our state, having begun our business cultivating for medical use in 2014.
The state program has seen significant growth over the last 10 years, and as of the last check, there are now 17 cultivators (including the original four producers) and six micro-cultivators with final or provisional licenses in Connecticut, all regulated by the Department of Consumer Protection (DCP), which is responsible for licensing and regulating medical and adult-use cannabis establishments in Connecticut.
360X RSO Oil Syringe (Medical Use Only)
We deeply appreciate the support from the medical cannabis community over the years.
Given our legacy, we remain committed to being a reliable provider of high-quality medical cannabis offerings. While the medical program is experiencing declining enrollment and the availability of medical products is more limited, Theraplant is one of the top providers – if not the number one supplier – of medical cannabis offerings in Connecticut.
We understand that many medical customers are frustrated by the lack of consistent supply in critical product categories. We are doing our part to ensure reliable product availability to our medical customers.
· We provide up to 15 medical products regularly, including capsules, concentrates, oral solutions, gummies, transdermal creams, and two RSO solutions.
· We recently introduced a solventless rosin concentrate and plan to introduce several new medical products in the coming months including CBD/THC capsules and vape cartridges.
· We also participate in a compassionate care program where we donate 2% of medical sales monthly in the form of free medical products to certain hybrid retailers and dispensaries. We encourage you to reach out to your dispensary to see if you qualify to participate in this program.
Our goal is always to make high-quality, compliant, safe, and tested products available to our partners and customers. The DCP establishes strict standards and safe testing requirements regulating cannabis cultivators like Theraplant. Before any Theraplant product is available on retailer’s shelves, our products must pass testing completed by a state-licensed cannabis testing lab. Any flower sold by Theraplant to retailers has passed the stringent testing requirements mandated by the state and has satisfied our internal quality control checks.
If our flower fails testing for any reason, we do not sell it.
Last Spring, Theraplant decided to stop selling remediated flower. In Connecticut, if flower has failed testing, it can be remediated under a remediation plan approved by the DCP. That remediated product must be retested, and if compliant, it can be sold. Because delivering the highest quality flower to our customers and partners is one of our missions, we decommissioned and removed our remediation unit to ensure that only the best quality product is on retail shelves. It is important to know that the state is paying close attention to remediation practices. For example, a new bill signed into law this summer gave the DCP the ability to develop regulations regarding consumer disclosures on these practices. We welcome these efforts.
Close-up photo of Theraplant MAC V2 during growth.
Making improvements in quality and efficiency.
To support increased product availability for both the medical and adult-use markets, we constantly evaluate ways to improve quality and efficiency. To that end, we are embarking on a facility-wide upgrade which will include:
· Installation of state-of-the-art LED lighting systems in every flower room
· Additional growing square footage
· Equipment upgrades designed to improve growing conditions in each room
These improvements will enable Theraplant to produce higher-quality flower and innovative products for the medical and adult-use markets in greater quantities. We believe these investments will be a win-win for the Connecticut cannabis community and are critical in achieving our mission of helping you live and feel better.
Theraplant is Connecticut’s first licensed cannabis cultivator, and our team takes pride in producing high-quality flower and cannabis products for medical patients and adult-use consumers. We will always strive to improve the innovation, quality, consistency, and availability of our products, working closely with the DCP.
We are proud that Theraplant is the only one of the original four producers singularly focused on the Connecticut cannabis community. Everything we do is with an eye toward building trust and loyalty with our Connecticut consumers, our only customers.
David Goldburg is the Chief Executive Officer of Theraplant, Connecticut’s first licensed cannabis cultivator, which is located in Watertown.