Rhode Island cannabis regulators are hitting reset on the state’s stalled retail licensing process.
Seventy five hopefuls for one of 20 promised new marijuana retail permits will be refunded their application fees and be allowed to enter a new lottery scheduled for as early as next month, according to the Rhode Island Current.
That’s part of the updated timeline the Rhode Island Cannabis Control Commission received on Friday for a restarted rollout of new adult-use cannabis retail permits after lawmakers stripped out a controversial residency requirement.
However, regulators said they weren’t sure if they would be able to meet the August deadline.
Are Rhode Island cannabis retail permits available?
Rhode Island’s $120 million cannabis market has so far been limited to eight existing medical marijuana operators, who were allowed to sell to adults 21 and over starting in December 2022.
Ninety-seven prospective cannabis businesses applied for one of up to 24 permits that state regulators initially promised to issue via a lottery. Of those, half were reserved for marijuana social-equity applicants and for employee-owned cooperatives.
However, a residency requirement led to lawsuits and eventually froze the process.
After a federal judge found the residency requirement unconstitutional, Gov. Dan McKee on June 10 signed a pair of bills that eliminated the contested provision requiring cannabis businesses to be majority-owned by Rhode Island residents.
The new law also voided the original application process and directed the commission to open a fresh application window by Aug. 10.
Any prospective shop owner who applied the first time can recover the $7,500 application fee they paid to the commission.
Mariana Ormonde, the commission’s chief legal counsel, said her office will email each applicant to confirm the name and address for the refund check.
Why did Rhode Island eliminate a residency requirement for cannabis retail?
The legal fight began in May 2024, when California cannabis entrepreneur Justyna Jensen sued the commission, arguing the residency mandate violated the U.S. Constitution’s Dormant Commerce Clause.
On April 8, U.S. District Judge Melissa DuBose halted the licensing process.
DuBos has indicated she will dissolve the injunction now that the challenged language is gone.
“The Cannabis Act, as revised, removed the language this court concluded violated the U.S. Constitution’s Dormant Commerce Clause,” she wrote.
The catch is that the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston must first send the cases over the former residency requirement back to DuBose’s courtroom in Providence, the Current reported.
Of the 97 applications, 56 sought general retail licenses, 19 came from worker cooperatives and 23 were social equity applicants.
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When will Rhode Island issue marijuana social equity permits?
Regulators must now set up a new social equity certification process.
The updated statute removes Rhode Island references from the eligibility criteria, though applicants must still show they were disproportionately harmed by past cannabis enforcement.
Ormonde believes the commission can meet the Aug. 10 deadline but stopped short of committing to a launch date while regulators await court approval.
“We remain committed to being transparent about our work,” commission Chairperson Michelle Reddish said during the CCC meeting Friday, as reported by the Current.
