The Commission is hosting three more listening sessions throughout August, where members of the public can share their perspective on regulating marijuana. The next meeting takes place Friday, Aug. 4, 1-3 p.m., both on Zoom and in person at the Public Utilities Commission in Warwick. Go to the Secretary of State’s website for more information on public meetings.
TRANSCRIPT:
Luis Hernandez: How would you describe what your responsibilities are going to be? And what do you want to accomplish?
Kimberly Ahern: I would say first and foremost, our responsibilities are what are mandated in the Rhode Island Cannabis Act of 2022, which is first and foremost to be responsible for the regulations, licensing and enforcement of adult-use and medical cannabis in the state going forward. My vision is to do that in a way that is safe, transparent and equitable, and really hears from the industry, hears from folks involved, hears from consumers, hears from patients, and really takes that and just go, and do what is described in the Cannabis Act.
Hernandez: The commission is holding four public meetings this summer to hear from everybody – patients, retailers, anybody in the community. You already had one meeting. How’d it go? What happened?
Ahern: I thought it went well. We tried to pick a cross section of locations and times. And so the first one was on a Thursday morning in Bristol, Rhode Island, at the Roger Williams School of Law. I think we had about 30 or so individuals come. We also are trying to be very transparent, so trying to have everything on Zoom, livestream so folks can watch while it’s happening, watch after. But I think it went really well. We heard from a cross section of individuals. We heard from industry folks, both retail, cultivators, hemp. We heard from patients that have been involved in this community for many, many years. We heard from parents. We heard from folks in the substance abuse disorder community that are concerned. And so we heard from a real cross section and that was our goal, was to listen. And I think we’re doing that.
Hernandez: I wondered, I mean, with that wide group of people, was there one or two points that seem to jump out a lot? What did you keep hearing from the group that was there?
Ahern: Yeah, I think a few things. One, from folks that are more involved on the cultivation side, hearing about, it’s been tough for them. And that they, you know, would like us to get moving. And that’s what we’re doing. And they want us to get kind of retail licenses out there as quickly as possible. I think another current of folks that we heard from are folks that are, want us to be kind of thoughtful and deliberate and really take time going over the regulations before we dive into actually doing the regulations, and see what’s worked, what hasn’t worked, even in Rhode Island and elsewhere. And so I think that was kind of some of my main takeaways.
Hernandez: Adult-use recreational marijuana has been legal in Rhode Island for over a year. But retailers and growers couldn’t advertise, you know, for that time. And there was a lot of frustration, I’m sure you’ve heard this, you know, about McKee’s delay in making the nominations, and about not getting that, not being allowed to advertise because you’re losing sales to Connecticut and Massachusetts. All right. So what’s the plan to make up for that? And to help stimulate the economy in this region? You know, now that they can, what do we know about moving forward? How do we move forward?
Ahern: Yeah, that’s a good question. And yes, we have heard a lot about it. I think a few things. One, I was grateful the General Assembly passed that expeditiously and that the governor signed it right away. And so Governor McKee signed that into law days after it passed. And the current body responsible for regulatory oversight of cannabis in Rhode Island is the office of cannabis regulation at the DBR. And they jumped into action, right, literally within hours, I think, of the governor signing it. They issued advertising regulations that I believe model Massachusetts. So your point about making sure we’re competitive, that’s a goal of mine. I, we are a small state, surrounded by Connecticut and Massachusetts. For many of us, myself included, when I went to law school, I had to leave Rhode Island, drive through Massachusetts to go back into Rhode Island to where I went to school. And in that short journey, you’ll see other cannabis shops that have popped up, obviously, in Massachusetts. And so I think we do need to be competitive, and I think a first step in that was advertising. I will say too, just as a parent, we want to make sure that’s done in a safe and responsible way. We want to make sure it’s done where it’s marketed specifically to those over 21, and not unnecessarily enticing to young kids. And I think we’ve found that balance. And we’ll continue to work on that balance.
Hernandez: I wonder, how much of a concern is that? Have we learned from the issue with tobacco and of course with alcohol and how we advertise these things, and we make sure we’re not, you know, in any way trying to reach kids?
Ahern: Yeah, exactly. No, I think it is a learning lesson. I think we have learned a lot from tobacco. I think we’ve learned a lot from other industries like this, but it’s new, right? It’s brand new, and so we have to chart our own course. To your question earlier, too, we did hear a number of folks bring it up at the first listening session. And their overall kind of tenor of their comments were to please be thoughtful going forward, and not just how we market, but like how we let kids be aware of these stores, making sure they’re not kind of allowed into the stores, things like that. And that was just a tenor that we heard from more than one person at the first listening session.
Hernandez: So speaking of learning, states like Colorado and California have been doing this for a while now. Can we look to them and say, that works, that doesn’t work, or is Rhode Island so different that we have to kind of do it our own way?
Ahern: No, I think we have to look to them. And I think the General Assembly should be applauded for the work they did in passing the Cannabis Act. And I know a number of the legislators and policy staff members at the General Assembly, and passing this act did just that, and tried to really learn from the years of experience that some other states have, like you referenced, in modeling this legislation. And I think it’s incumbent upon us, the current commission, to do the same in decisions that we have to make. Because I do think there’s been several years of practice in this area in many states. And I think we’re developing best practices, we’re developing groups that exist just to help support regulators and things like that. And so I think that it’s incumbent upon us to do that.
