LOCAL NEWS
RHODE ISLAND LEGALIZED IT!
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fter a lengthy legislative process, Rhode Island has legalized Cannabis. On May 25, Gov. Dan McKee signed the Ocean State’s adult-use bill into law. McKee approved the landmark legislation one day after it passed both the Senate (in a 32-6 vote) and the House (in a 55-16 vote), which put the bill on the governor’s desk. The country’s smallest state had big problems creating a compromise bill that both chambers and the governor would support. The well-documented struggles included months of negotiations and rewrites before ultimately arriving at this latest iteration of the legalization legislation.
Lawmakers originally considered three separate adult-use proposals – from the House, the Senate and the governor’s office. However, they had been stuck in neutral on legalization as legislators argued over several issues, including whether a currently existing agency or a new regulatory body should oversee the state’s Cannabis industry and whether the Senate should be allowed to appoint members to a regulatory committee (a power reserved for the governor under the state’s constitution). While it appeared as if legalization would languish for the foreseeable future, a revised initiative advanced through Judiciary and Finance committees and was then quickly passed by the House and Senate. Now, with McKee’s signature, Rhode Island becomes the nineteenth state to legalize Cannabis. The Ocean State’s legalization law allows adults 21 and older to purchase and possess up to an ounce of pot, with as much as 10 ounces permitted to be stored in a household. Home cultivation is also allowed, with a maximum of six plants for personal use. The new law also includes automatic expungements of past convictions for Cannabis possession. The state must expunge those records by July 1, 2024. Reports indicate that tens of thousands of past pot convictions will be eligible for expungement. Initially, the state will license 33 adult-use retailers. Nine of those licenses will go to existing medical marijuana dispensaries that must be approved and pay $125,000 to become hybrid shops, selling both medical and adult-use Cannabis. The other 24 licenses will go to new, adult-use only retailers. And 25 percent of the 24 new licenses will be reserved for social equity applicants. When it comes to public consumption of pot, local jurisdictions will be allowed to decide their own rules, which will be established through an ordinance. The new law’s possession and home cultivation rules are effective immediately, meaning Cannabis is now legal in Rhode Island. However, adultuse sales aren’t expected to begin until December of 2022 at the earliest.
LEGAL POT HAS AN IMPACT IN MAINE O
fficials in Maine credit the state’s adult-use Cannabis industry with helping to bring down blackmarket sales. According to the Office of Cannabis Policy (OCP), which oversees Maine’s marijuana industry, the “current illicit market has diminished more than expected” since retail sales launched in October of 2020. The OCP is basing this optimism on a new survey from Advocates for Human Potential, which found that 64 percent of Maine residents now purchase their Cannabis legally. The study, which surveyed 2,000 Mainers, states that “those who prioritize their source of Cannabis highly and those who are younger, are more likely to use adult-use stores for their Cannabis and to have shifted to adult-use stores from other sources since January of 2021.” Somewhat predictably, the survey also found that people who live in closer proximity to a licensed retailer are more likely to buy legal Cannabis, rather than turn to illicit sources.
JULY 2022
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For most states, creating a regulated market that eliminates illicit sales is a major goal of legalization. And Maine officials are certainly encouraged by this survey’s findings. “Make no mistake, the findings of this report show that the implementation of the adult-use market in the state of Maine may be considered an achievement in both public health and Cannabis policy,” the study’s principal investigator, Dr. Michael Sofis, said. Encouragingly, those who obtain their pot products from licensed retailers are no more likely to drive high or have a marijuana use disorder than those who purchase blackmarket Cannabis, according to the study. While medical Cannabis is still king in Maine, adult-use sales are on the rise as the industry develops. “The findings of this report serve as an excellent baseline for us to measure the continued evolution of our programs,” OCP Director Erik Gundersen said in a statement.
