Update as of 4:42 p.m.: The Rhode Island House has since passed the legislation.
Rhode Island adults have been able to legally buy cannabis since last December. But none of the entities that sell the product are allowed to advertise it in the state.
That contradiction offers a window on the slow rollout of the Cannabis Control Commission, the group responsible for drafting cannabis regulations and choosing who gets the 24 available retail licenses, which include six social equity licenses for people hurt by the past criminalization of marijuana.
The legislation legalizing cannabis was signed into law last May by Gov. Dan McKee. It called for the governor to select three appointees to the Cannabis Control Commission by July 4, 2022.
House Speaker Joe Shekarchi suggested three names last July: former Rep. Robert Jacquard, Stephen M. McCartney, a former Warwick police chief, and Rachel Russell, who owns a consignment shop in Providence.
Ten months later, the commission has yet to take shape.
In a sign of frustration with this delay, the Rhode Island House of Representatives passed a bill Tuesday, sponsored by Rep. Scott Slater (D-Providence), eliminating a prohibition on advertising cannabis in Rhode Island – an issue initially left to be decided by the Cannabis Control Commission. A companion bill, sponsored by Sen. Josh Miller (D-Cranston) is expected to win approval in the Senate later in the session.
After the House vote, Slater said, via statement: “Now that Rhode Island’s recreational cannabis industry is up and running, our dispensaries are facing a significant obstacle when competing with our neighbors in Massachusetts and Connecticut. In particular, without being able to advertise their products due to current law, Rhode Island’s dispensaries are facing a serious disadvantage because Massachusetts and Connecticut cannabis businesses are allowed to, and do, advertise within Rhode Island’s borders. This bill will correct this inequity while also supporting these new local businesses in Rhode Island by hopefully keeping Rhode Islanders from crossing the border to shop for their cannabis in neighboring states.”
The governor’s office has cited various reasons for the continued delay, including how the legislature does not regularly meet in the summer and how time was needed to vet potential nominees. McKee spokeswoman Olivia DaRocha did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this story.
Meanwhile, it appears that Rhode Island is losing projected money from delays in developing the cannabis industry.
From December 2022 to the end of April 2023, Rhode Island gained $3.36 million in taxes from the legalization of marijuana sales, according to the May revenue estimating conference.
The House budget office had previously projected that the state would gain, from last December through the end of June, an additional $8.6 million due to the cannabis business. Of that sum, $1.2 million would have come from licensing fees imposed by the Cannabis Control Commission to support social equity licensees.
Ian Donnis can be reached at idonnis@ripr.org. Follow him on Twitter @IanDon. Sign up here for his weekly RI politics and media newsletter.
