Selective Enforcement: No Arrests for a Fentanyl-Class Opioid, Arrests for Cannabis

Connecticut is not arresting retailers for selling a Schedule I opioid as dangerous as fentanyl and far stronger than morphine — yet cannabis arrests continue weekly, often at the very same smoke shops. This is not public safety. It is market protection.

By CT CannaTimes

Connecticut has officially classified 7-hydroxymitragynine (7-OH) as a Schedule I controlled substance — the same legal category as fentanyl, heroin, and other deadly opioids.

Schedule I is supposed to represent the state’s most extreme judgment:

• No accepted medical use
• High potential for abuse
• Severe risk to public health
• Zero tolerance for retail sale

By definition, a Schedule I opioid is considered dangerous enough to justify arrest and prosecution.

And yet, across Connecticut, the state is not arresting people for selling 7-OH — even though it is:

• Opioid-active
• Many times more potent than morphine in receptor activity
• Capable of causing dependence, withdrawal, and overdose
• Sold unregulated, without dosing standards or medical oversight

This is a substance the state itself has placed in the same legal category as fentanyl.

And the response?

Warnings. Compliance notices. Quiet product removals. No criminal charges.

Let’s be absolutely clear

Connecticut is not arresting people for selling a fentanyl-class opioid that can be deadly.

At the same time:

Connecticut continues to make weekly arrests for cannabis — including at the same smoke shops and retail locations where 7-OH has been sold.

That contrast is not accidental. It is the point.

An opioid the state calls “Schedule I” — treated like a paperwork issue

7-hydroxymitragynine is not “just kratom.” It is a concentrated opioid alkaloid engineered and extracted to dramatically increase potency. Scientific research shows it binds strongly to the same mu-opioid receptors targeted by morphine, heroin, and fentanyl.

The state knows this. That is why it placed 7-OH in Schedule I.

But instead of criminal enforcement, Connecticut has chosen administrative theater:

• Retailers are “notified”
• Products are “requested” to be removed
• No arrests are made
• No prosecutions follow
• No deterrence exists

If this were truly treated like fentanyl or heroin, police action would be immediate.

It isn’t — because the state does not want to expose how badly it failed to control this market.

Cannabis: safer by every metric — still aggressively enforced

Now compare that to cannabis.

Cannabis:

• Has an established medical program
• Is legal for adult use
• Has no known fatal overdose threshold
• Is widely recognized as safer than opioids
• Is actively regulated and taxed

Yet cannabis remains technically Schedule I in Connecticut’s underlying drug code, legalized only through fragile statutory carve-outs.

That structure allows continued enforcement.

As a result:

• Cannabis arrests still occur weekly
• Smoke shops are charged for cannabis sales
• Individuals are prosecuted for licensing violations
• Gifting and homegrow errors still trigger criminal exposure

This enforcement does not exist to protect health.

It exists to protect:

• The licensed cannabis market
• State revenue streams
• Regulatory monopolies
• Corporate interests embedded in the system

This is profit enforcement — not safety enforcement

The hypocrisy becomes impossible to ignore:

• 7-OH
• Same legal category as fentanyl
• Opioid-active and potentially deadly
• Sold unregulated
• No arrests
• Cannabis
• Medically accepted
• Regulated and taxed
• Far safer
• Still triggers arrests

Yes, synthetic cannabinoids are dangerous. Yes, unregulated products can cause harm.

But Connecticut does not respond to danger consistently — it responds to threats to its market structure.

Cannabis enforcement is about control and profit, not public health.

If it were about safety, 7-OH would be the priority.

If fentanyl-class drugs don’t trigger arrests, the law is a lie

A Schedule I designation that does not lead to criminal enforcement is meaningless.

And a cannabis policy that continues to rely on arrests while ignoring unregulated opioids is indefensible.

Connecticut cannot credibly claim to care about overdose prevention while:

• Ignoring opioid sales in retail stores
• Criminalizing cannabis activity
• Using enforcement selectively to protect a state-controlled market

This is not harm reduction. This is hypocrisy dressed up as regulation.

Bottom line

Connecticut is choosing not to arrest people for selling a deadly, fentanyl-class opioid — while continuing to arrest people for cannabis. That choice exposes the true priorities of the state’s drug policy.

Public safety is not one of them.