Public Act 21-1, An Act Concerning Responsible and Equitable Regulation of Adult-Use Cannabis, legalized the adult use of cannabis in Connecticut. The bill established a Social Equity Council, which will promote and encourage the full participation in the cannabis industry by people from communities disproportionately harmed by cannabis prohibition. The bill targets its equity measures at "disproportionately impacted areas" (or DIAs), census tracts in the state that have either a historical conviction rate for drug-related offenses greater than one-tenth, or an unemployment rate greater than ten percent, as determined annually by the Social Equity Council.
Based on these clear statutory criteria, a list of census tracts for identification as disproportionately impacted areas has been identified by an interagency team. The recommended tracts have been published on the Connecticut Open Data Portal.
This list of disproportionately impacted areas was approved by the Social Equity Council on August 5, 2021.