RI dispensaries start to sell recreational pot: Everything you need to know
Rhode Island has licensed five of its six operating medical marijuana dispensaries to begin selling the drug for recreational use as well starting Dec. 1, when the state’s legalization goes into effect.
The newest of those five businesses opened for medical sales last week. Mother Earth Wellness, in Pawtucket, opened at 125 Esten Ave., and co-owner Joseph Pakuris said then “people are showing up.”
Recreational sales are expected to eclipse medical sales quickly, he said, especially with the number of registered medical marijuana patients in Rhode Island continuing to decline.
“I think 70% of the business will be recreational,” said Pakuris.
Read the bill: Read an annotated version of the law legalizing recreational marijuana
Which dispensaries will sell marijuana in Rhode Island on December first?
The dispensaries now licensed to sell the drug for recreational use are:
∎ Aura of Rhode Island, 1136 Lonsdale Ave., Central Falls,
∎ Mother Earth Wellness, in Pawtucket, at 125 Esten Ave., Pawtucket
∎ The Thomas C. Slater Compassion Center, 1 Corliss St., Providence
∎ Greenleaf Compassionate Care Center, 1637 West Main Road, Portsmouth;
∎ RISE Warwick, formerly the Summit Medical Compassion Center, on Jefferson Boulevard, Warwick
Rhode Island’s sixth operating medical marijuana dispensary, Sweetspot Dispensary, in South Kingstown, “has not yet submitted an application” to also sell recreational cannabis, said Matthew Santacroce, interim deputy director for the Department of Business Regulation.
Sweetspot opened in June, offering home delivery only of its medical marijuana products; it does not operate a retail store at its location at 91 Pershing Ave.
While home delivery of recreational pot is allowed under the state’s new legalization law, “we have not had any requests from dispensaries to do so,” Santacroce said.
More:Five RI medical pot dispensaries licensed to sell recreational weed starting Dec. 1
Here's what you need to know about the guidelines
The legislation Rhode Island lawmakers passed this year legalizing recreational marijuana, gave regulators until Oct. 15 to come up with detailed guidance for the dispensaries — the first retailers — “and we’re probably going to beat that by two weeks,” said Santacroce.
More:Dispensaries will start selling recreational pot soon. What we know about RI guidelines
Marijuana is legal in RI. What does it mean for drug tests, employers and employees?
Now that recreational marijuana is legal in Rhode Island, what does it mean for employees and employers?
Not a lot, say experts, as Rhode Island already has a drug-testing law that is among the nation's most protective of employees, and cannabis users get special protections under the law that prevent them from being fired for off-duty use.
Medical marijuana users had already been protected by the state, which banned discrimination against them for using the drug.
"From a strictly legal standpoint, I don't think much has changed," labor lawyer Matthew Parker said. Parker, with the law firm Whelan Corrente & Flanders LLP in Providence, mostly represents businesses.
Marijuana has essentially become like alcohol: people are free to consume it on their own time but can't come to work impaired, he said.
For more:Marijuana is legal in RI. What does it mean for drug tests, employers and employees?
Marijuana is now legal in RI, but driving high isn't. How will police identify offenders?
How police will prove a driver is high, and to what degree those findings will hold up in court, remain to be tested. Case law in this area continues to evolve in the Ocean State and across the nation as more states move to legalize cannabis.
For decades, police in Rhode Island have relied on officers trained as drug recognition experts, or DREs, to conduct a battery of tests to try to pinpoint whether a driver is under the influence of drugs and a danger on the road. The state’s legalization law identifies the DRE officer’s testimony as admissible evidence in proving a driver’s guilt, prompting complaints in the defense community that it could give added weight to findings that might be skewed by subjectivity and bias.
For the full story:Marijuana is now legal in RI, but driving high isn't. How will police identify offenders?
What about medical marijuana in Rhode Island?
You can still qualify for a medical marijuana card. However, the number of medical marijuana patients has been declining each month since July 2021, when 19,439 were registered through the state, according to data kept by the Department of Business Regulation.
As of October, Rhode Island had 15,714 registered patients, a drop of 21% since July 2021. Regulators have attributed much of the decrease to patients buying their medicine without the hassle of state regulations at the growing number of Massachusetts retail pot shops along the Rhode Island border. (Massachusetts opened its first retail stores in 2018.)
Should marijuana dispensaries be allowed in your RI town? Here's how your town voted
The law that legalized recreational marijuana use in Rhode Island this spring included a provision that said communities could only opt out of hosting such businesses if voters rejected the idea through a referendum question this fall.
State Sen. Joshua Miller, of Cranston, one of the leading sponsors of the legislation, said he was surprised so many communities were placing the question before voters, though it wasn’t a true indicator of opposition.
What if a town has rejected retail marijuana?
Communities that rejected having marijuana businesses will not share in the proceeds of marijuana sales.
Recreational marijuana will be taxed at 20% – a new 10% cannabis tax, a new 3% tax by the community where the marijuana is sold, and the current 7% sales tax.
The law calls for retail sales to begin Dec. 1, but it will be a while before most stores are open.
The state’s three currently operating medical marijuana dispensaries will be the first retailers of recreational marijuana, followed by six others in various planning stages.
Who wins another 24 proposed retail licenses, and when, will be up to a new three-member cannabis control commission that will be appointed by the governor.
More:Which towns in Rhode Island rejected marijuana retail stores in Rhode Island
What you should know if you want to grow your own
While the state legalized recreational cannabis in May and now anyone 21 or older can grow it at home, few customers have come in looking to learn how to grow at home, or even looking for advice, Hawkins said.
Just across the border in Massachusetts, recreational dispensaries have been open for years, and Rhode Island will allow recreational dispensaries to open in December.
While the legalization bill allowed people to start growing as soon as it was signed, that didn't mean anyone had digested the rules and regulations or was ready to start growing.
More:Marijuana legalization: What you should know if you want to grow your own
Worried about an RI marijuana arrest on your record? Here's what you can do about it.
Rhode Island became the 19th state to legalize recreational marijuana this May, joining our neighbors in Massachusetts and Connecticut.
Under the new law, possession and home-growing of cannabis is now legal for adults age 21 and older, and in-store sales may begin as soon as December 1.
One of the key components of the law, celebrated by advocates as a move toward social equity, is a provision automatically expunging criminal records related to possession charges that have now been decriminalized. The state judiciary has until July 1, 2024, to clear those records from the court system – a process that is just getting under way.
What will expunging your record do?
If the court determines a record is to be expunged, it shall order all records of conviction or civil adjudication be removed from public inspection. The court will send a copy of the order to the attorney general’s officer and the charging law-enforcement agency within a reasonable timeframe.
The judiciary is still working out the process for expedited automatic expungement of simple marijuana possession, Berke said.
More:Here's what you can get the marijuana arrest off your record
More:When will recreational marijuana be legal in RI? We may have an answer