A member of Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo’s administration described her proposal to legalize marijuana as an attempt to adapt to increased legalization throughout the Northeast while limiting the negative effects of that change.
Norman Birenbaum, a principal policy and economic analyst for the state, used a media availability on Monday to offer more details on Raimondo’s move to legalize marijuana as part of her forthcoming budget proposal.
Birenbaum started by pointing to how a number of Northeast states are moving closer to legalization.
“Given that landscape, given how accessible this is going to be,” he said, “we believe that we need to take our own destiny in our hands and control our future. And so the governor has instructed the administration to come up with what we believe is the most proactive and strongest regulatory framework for adult-use marijuana, in order to safeguard public health and public safety.”
The restrictions in Raimondo’s plan include:
— Rhode Island would join Washington state as the only states, among the 10 or so where recreational marijuana is legal, that prohibit recreational users from growing the drug at home.
— “Rhode Island will be the only state in the country limiting potency for adult use marijuana,” according to a state fact sheet. “Only medical marijuana patients demonstrating hardship will continue to be allowed to grow at home.”
— Edible forms of marijuana will be limited to 5 miligrams of THC per piece, which Birenbaum called the strongest standard in the nation. In an effort to diminish the appeal of edibiles to children, they must be in a generic shape and can not be shaped like candy.
The amount of recreational marijuana will also be capped, Birenbaum said, to guard against an oversupply.
Legislative leaders have reacted cautiously to Raimondo’s proposal to legalize marijuana. The General Assembly will hold hearings on the governor’s plan in the months ahead.
Birenbaum said any Rhode Island communities that don’t want a recreational marijuana business within their borders will have the opportunity to prevent it through referendum, or limit its location though zoning.
A new Office of Cannabis Regulation would be created within the state Office of Business Regulation to oversee the new adult use market.
Recreational marijuana would be taxed at a rate of 20 percent, comparable to the rate in Massachusetts.
Birenbaum outlined the following split on tax revenue: 25 percent would go for regulation, prevention, public health (including training State Police to detect marijuana use by drivers), etc.; 15 percent would go to cities and towns; the remaining 60 percent would go to the state general fund, with the initial year of legalization expected to produce $6.5 million.
As envisioned by the Raimondo administration, recreational sales of marijuana could start in the first quarter of 2020. Sales would initially take place at the state’s three compassion centers, although new retail licensees would then have the opportunity to sell the drug. No cap is planned on the number of licensees at this point.
