“If you take one thing away from my feelings about this, it is to avoid further delay for the industry.”
By Christopher Shea, Rhode Island Current
Since recreational cannabis was legalized in Rhode Island two years ago, potential retailers have wondered how they can get one of the two dozen pending licenses up for grabs.
Would it be through a merit-based system like Maine and Vermont? Or a random lottery like when medical licenses were expanded in 2021?
State regulators want to do both.
The three-member Rhode Island Cannabis Control Commission on Friday unanimously gave preliminary approval to a hybrid selection process once it approves the final regulations governing the state’s fledgling cannabis sector.
The proposal was presented by the commission’s chief legal counsel, Mariana Ormonde, who said it avoids some of the legal and economic challenges that have plagued states that followed a strictly merit-based system, such as Illinois, New Jersey and New York.
“If you take one thing away from my feelings about this, it is to avoid further delay for the industry,” Commission Chair Kimberly Ahern said during Friday’s meeting. “It is what I have heard over and over and over again.”
Under the plan, applicants would
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