Nearly two years after its formation, Rhode Island’s three-member Cannabis Control Commission only needed 18 minutes Friday to approve an inaugural set of rules that will govern the state’s budding cannabis market.
Regulations will take effect May 1, putting the state another step closer to issuing licenses for two dozen new retail pot shops and making the Office of Cannabis Regulation become its own independent entity.
The new rules establish new packaging and labeling requirements, outline how licenses will be awarded, and set the criteria to apply for one of the six social equity retail licenses.
Commission Chairperson Kimberly Ahern acknowledged the long road to finalize the new rules but said it was crucial to balance industry growth with safety. All the work drafting the regulations was done in-house, rather than relying on an out-of-state contractor, she added.
“These are truly home-grown, just like our cultivators,” she said following the panel’s vote. “This is an industry that is growing here thoughtfully, intentionally, deliberately — and it needs to reflect that.”
With the regulations approved, the commission can officially take over control of Rhode Island’s cannabis industry as envisioned in the 2022 legalization law. Since recreational cannabis was legalized, the Department of Business Regulation has had oversight of the state’s fledgling recreational market.
The final approval was met with little fanfare from nearly a dozen cannabis industry representatives who attended the meeting, but many said they were excited to see the governing rules become reality.
“It’s awesome that this finally happened — we’ve been waiting years for this,” Peter Kasabian, co-founder of Sensible Cultivators for Intelligent Reform co-founder, told Rhode Island Current.
It’s certainly been a long road for Rhode Island to establish its recreational cannabis market, which was legalized by state lawmakers in 2022. Over a year passed before the three-member commission was impaneled, which then needed to hire staff to draft proposals and conduct a review of rules adopted in other states.
In the meantime, only seven previously authorized medical marijuana dispensaries were able to sell cannabis recreationally. Under the 2022 legalization, the commission can offer 24 new licenses to recreational dispensaries, with six reserved for social equity applicants and another six reserved for worker-owned cooperatives.
Regulations call for a hybrid selection process in which applicants seeking one of the 24 new retail licenses would first be screened based on qualifications before being placed in a lottery.
All prospective retailers would pay an application fee of $7,500 and a yearly $30,000 licensing fee. Licenses must be spread throughout six geographic zones, with a maximum of four stores per zone.
The commission has yet to determine the date when applications will open, Ahern told reporters.
“Certainly this calendar year, and perhaps even faster,” she said.
Specificity to come on social equity criteria
Draft rules were posted in January and the public had 30 days to provide their feedback. More than 380 people provided comments.
“They were very helpful, very thoughtful, and I think made these regulations better,” Ahern said.
She said public feedback helped to close loopholes impacting who would qualify as a social equity applicant, which is generally meant for those who were adversely affected by the war on drugs.
Ahern told reporters after the meeting that social equity applicants will be required to provide documentation showing they meet the criteria outlined in the 2022 Rhode Island Cannabis Act. At least 51% ownership and control must be individuals directly impacted by past cannabis laws or economic disparities. Qualifying factors include convictions for nonviolent cannabis offenses or residency in disproportionately impacted areas — which can be determined by federal poverty level, unemployment rate, the number of students in a free school lunch program, and historic arrest rates by census tract.
A preliminary analysis presented to the commission last October found of the state’s 39 municipalities, only three met the criteria for a social equity zone set in Rhode Island’s 2022 law: Central Falls, Providence and Woonsocket. Some census tracts in Pawtucket and Newport also met the criteria.
Ahern said the commission plans to further narrow social equity criteria in future meetings.
This story was originally published by the Rhode Island Current.
