Adult-use cannabis retailers in Rhode Island can apply for licenses

Rhode Island is opening its $120 million legal cannabis market to new retailers for the first time since adult-use marijuana legalization.

The Rhode Island Cannabis Control Commission will accept applications through its online portal for new cannabis storefronts through Dec. 29, according to the Providence Journal.

The state will issue no more than 24 new licenses, the newspaper reported.

Of these:

• Six are reserved for social-equity applicants.
• Six are reserved for worker-owned cooperatives.

The licenses will also be distributed equally through six geographic areas.

New cannabis retail permits available in Rhode Island

Although Rhode Island legalized recreational cannabis in 2022, no new retail licenses have been issued for the past three years.

Following legalization, the commission needed time to establish rules, regulations and a process for evaluating and distributing licenses.

Since then, the seven dispensaries already licensed to sell medical marijuana were allowed to sell adult-use cannabis when sales began in Dec. 2022.

Adult-use sales are projected to reach $120 million this year, according to the MJBiz Factbook.

Medical and recreational cannabis sales in Rhode Island have reached $79.1 million through August, according to state data.

The state began accepting applications for social equity retail licenses in August.

These permits are designated for people impacted by marijuana prohibition or for businesses located in areas disproportionately affected by the war on drugs.

Social equity applicants in Rhode Island must own 51% of the business and have been a resident for at least five of the past 10 years in a designated “disproportionately affected area.”