Following the signing of a bill that made Rhode Island the 19th state to legalize cannabis for adult use, residents in 31 cities and towns in the state voted whether to allow recreational cannabis sales within their communities.
Voters in 25 Rhode Island municipalities approved a referendum that would allow adult-use cannabis businesses and sales within their limits. Under the recently signed cannabis law, municipalities were given the option to opt-out of allowing recreational cannabis dispensaries to open. The referendum asked voters, “Shall new cannabis-related licenses for businesses involved in the cultivation, manufacture, laboratory testing and for the retail sale of adult recreational use cannabis be issued in the city (or town)?”
Of the 31 cities and towns, only six chose to reject recreational cannabis sales within the community: Barrington, East Greenwich, Jamestown, Little Compton, Scituate and Smithfield. Future store locations have yet to be proposed, and not all municipalities that voted to allow recreational dispensaries will have a dispensary open there.
State law allows for 33 stores statewide and multiple stores within the same municipality. The first nine stores are set to be current or proposed medical cannabis dispensaries and the remaining 24 stores won’t start opening until 2023 after the new Cannabis Control Commission decides who will be awarded licenses to operate. The state’s Department of Business Regulation has started accepting applications for existing dispensaries to become hybrid retailers but the overall licensing process has faced its share of issues.
Municipalities that voted to allow adult-use cannabis dispensaries include: Bristol, Burrillville, Charlestown, Coventry, Cumberland, East Providence, Glocester, Hopkinton, Johnston, Lincoln, Middletown, Narragansett, Newport, New Shoreham, North Kingstown, North Providence, North Smithfield, Richmond, South Kingstown, Tiverton, Warren, Westerly, West Greenwich, West Warwick and Woonsocket. Some of the state’s largest cities declined to ask voters to decide on the matter, meaning cannabis businesses will be allowed by default.
Dr. Magnus Thorsson, founder of the Cannabis Entrepreneurship Program at Johnson & Wales University in Providence said communities in Rhode Island have some catching up to do and their competitive approach could have an effect on where the new ships are placed. Massachusetts, which legalized recreational cannabis six years ago, has the edge when it comes to people crossing state lines to purchase legal cannabis.
“If we think about the border towns with Massachusetts, for example, it may not be a viable from a competitive standpoint,” Thorsson said. “Service, experience, brand, and price: these are going to be the important factors that Rhode Island businesses that are coming to the game three years later than Massachusetts are going to have to take into account.”
Recreational cannabis sales are set to begin in Rhode Island on Dec. 1 with sales starting at existing medical cannabis dispensaries. The bill to legalize adult-use cannabis, signed into law by Rhode Island Governor Dan McKee in May, allows for possession of up to one ounce of cannabis by adults aged 21 or older and possession of up to 10 ounces is allowed in a private home. The law also created a three percent recreational cannabis sales tax which will go directly to the city or town cannabis is sold in. Municipalities that opted out of selling cannabis will not be eligible for any of the tax revenue.
The new law also calls for the governor to create a three-member commission that will be responsible for overseeing the regulation of both medical and adult-use cannabis industries. The new commission will work alongside a cannabis advisory board that will consist of 11 voting member and eight non-voting members. Legislative leaders have made recommendations to the governor for appointments for the commission, but no members have been formally selected yet.
In anticipation of the state beginning its recreational sales, the state’s fifth medical cannabis dispensary recently opened, with the intention of selling recreational cannabis as well on December 1.
