Rhode Island regulators have reopened the application process for prospective cannabis retailers, the Rhode Island Current reports. The new application window comes after the first attempt was halted by a federal court judge due to the state’s residency requirements for cannabis retailers and lawmakers passed a bill to remove those requirements in an effort to get the licensing back on track.
Online application submissions opened last week, and applications will be accepted through November 23. Applicants seeking social equity licenses must first become certified as qualified social equity applicants by September 11. Under the law restarting the licensing process, social equity businesses must be majority owned by one or more people who can prove they were disproportionately impacted by criminal enforcement of past cannabis prohibition, including being arrested or having a family member who was arrested for cannabis.
Under the 2022 law that legalized cannabis for adult use, regulators will award 24 new retail licenses with six reserved for social equity applicants and six for worker-owned cooperatives. Currently, there are nine dispensaries selling adult-use cannabis products in the state, all under hybrid medical-retail licenses grandfathered in from the state’s medical cannabis program.
Applicants who applied during the now-defunct first licensing attempt are expected to have any fees they paid refunded.
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