Rhode Island budget proposal seen as setback to medical marijuana growers

Amid ongoing complaints that Rhode Island’s three medical cannabis  dispensaries control the market – making it difficult for stand-alone cultivators to succeed – the state’s lawmakers released a budget that would license six vertically integrated companies to cultivate, manufacture and retail cannabis products.

Medical marijuana cultivators in the state see the proposed budget as creating more competition in a market that already favors the MMJ stores, the Providence Journal reported.

Cultivators would like to see more stores permitted to sell to the state’s 18,200 registered patients, but not if those retailers are also allowed to grow.

More details about Rhode Island’s budget proposal to add six more vertically integrated businesses can be found here.