Ocean State marijuana regulators are still weighing different retail license rollout patterns
Cannabis cultivators and prospective store owners implored the panel responsible for regulating Rhode Island’s cannabis market to avoid any further delays in awarding 20 new retail licenses on Friday.
The two remaining members of the state’s Cannabis Control Commission were scheduled to potentially vote on staggering the release of the licenses, along with extending the deadline for licence applicants to secure local zoning approvals. At last month’s meeting on Feb 13, commissioners first considered the idea of staggering the distribution of retail licenses.
Commissioners opted to punt their decision on how the license lottery will proceed in order to absorb testimony provided by 23 industry representatives who gave public comment, along with other written correspondence provided to the panel.
“We definitely hear you and hope to move forward in the best way,” Commissioner Layi Oduyingbo told the industry leaders who packed the conference room at the Public Utilities Commission in Warwick.
Applicants will not get any extension to get their local zoning approval. Oduyingbo and Commissioner Robert Jacquard voted against. Applicants had through March 2 to get local approvals submitted to the commission.
Twelve applicants had requested extensions, Rhode Island Cannabis Administrator Michelle Reddish told commissioners.
Under a timeline adopted last fall, regulators aimed to begin issuing licenses as early as May. The rules set by the commission governing the retail market don’t specify how many would be awarded at one time.
State law allows the commission to issue up to 24 retail licenses spread across six geographic zones. The state’s regulations adopted last year set a maximum of four retailers per zone, with at least one license designated for a social equity applicant, and one for a worker-owned cooperative.
But two zones had no applications from worker cooperatives and general retailers, which left regulators to instead issue a maximum of 20 licenses across the state.
A total of 97 applications were submitted to regulators by the commission’s Dec. 29, 2025, deadline.
At the Feb. 13 meeting, Jacquard said “a lot of stakeholders” voiced objections to awarding licenses all at once, fearing it could oversaturate Rhode Island’s budding market and drastically lower product prices leading to a “race to the bottom.”
Publicly, that alarm has only been raised by executives from some of the eight existing medical dispensaries, who have been allowed to sell recreational cannabis under hybrid licenses following retail legalization in 2022.
“Maintating the right balance between supply, retail capacity, and consumer demand is essential to preserving a safe cannabis industry,” Kevin Rouleau, chief operating officer for the Portsmouth-based Newport Cannabis Company, told the commission Friday.
Rouleau was the only medical dispensary representative to speak during the Feb. 13 meeting. He had some backup this time.
Jonathan Leighton, chief operating officer for Mother Earth Wellness in Pawtucket, said he’s worried regulators could wind up approving shops in heavily concentrated areas and damage what is a “fragile market.” He would know, formerly running Heal Cannabis in Provincetown, Massachusetts, located within 1 square mile of three other retailers.
“Heal Cannabis is no longer in business,” Leighton said. “Unplanned increase in retail and recreational access does not necessarily mean more sales.”
But retail license applicants and cultivators warn continued delay is what will hurt the market.
“Massachusetts businesses are thrilled that we might be delaying or limiting the number of licenses we’re about to hand out,” Matthew Belair, an applicant for a license in Zones 2 and 3, told the commission. “It’s not a mistake that there are so many along the border.”
Attorney Lisa Holley, who represents cultivators and retail license applicants, told the commission that Rhode Island is “significantly underlicensed.” She mentioned a recent cultivator-commissioned analysis from economist Beau Whitney showing the state can support even up to 40 retail licenses without harming existing operators.
“Issuing the proposed 24 licenses, now down to 20, will not oversaturate the market and will instead increase legal participation, tax revenue and employment in the state” Holley said. “Why would we slow roll?”
Reddish told the commission that she and other staffers are still going over the report’s findings.
Commissioners did not say when they intend to make a final decision on how they intend to hold the license lottery.
“There’s no reason to do it right now that I know of,” Jacquard told Rhode Island Current after the meeting.
This article was reprinted from the Rhode Island Current under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. You can read the original version here.
