When will R.I. open new pot shops? With release of new rules, the state is one step closer

The public has 30 days to comment on the new rules, which include everything from the process by which the 24 new retail stores will be selected, to rules about marijuana home delivery and how to define a “social equity” applicant.

The three-member commission, which was formed in 2023, decided to use a hybrid application process for new stores, where state officials will first determine which applicants have met the qualifications, and then use a random lottery to decide who gets the limited number of licenses available. State law allows a maximum of four new stores to open in each of six geographic zones throughout the state. (Six Rhode Island towns have banned the shops.)

Rhode Island had used a random lottery system when it issued new medical marijuana licenses in 2021 in order to avoid any appearance of favoritism, but the process was criticized by some who argued merit should be taken into account. The new proposal combines both merit and randomization.

During a meeting about the new rules on Wednesday, Commissioner Robert Jacquard said he was disappointed that merit won’t be a stronger factor.

“Some applicants will have better business plans than others,” Jacquard said. “But we won’t be able to consider which applicants have the better plans, only that they have a plan. And then they’re in the lottery.” (He still voted in favor of the regulations.)

Kimberly Ahern, the commission chair, said applying subjectivity could open the commission up to lawsuits. “Obviously if you come to us with a scrap piece of paper done on a sticky note, you’re not going to make it through our application process,” she said. But beyond that, it would be “tremendously difficult” to determine which business’s plan is best without facing legal challenges.

Part of the debate over the past year has been over who should get the “social equity” licenses, which are meant for people who have been convicted of nonviolent marijuana offenses in the past, have immediate family members convicted of such offenses, and have lived in a “disproportionately impacted area” for at least five of the past 10 years. The rules include a series of ways to qualify.

The commission has defined those disproportionately impacted areas as certain census tracts in Providence, Pawtucket, Central Falls, Woonsocket, and Newport, using data on food stamps, poverty, and the unemployment rate.

The social equity applicants can get access to funds to help start their business, and can get their initial application and licensing fees waived.

There has been frustration, especially from the roughly 65 businesses that grow cannabis, about how long it has taken to get new stores up and running. State-licensed cultivators can only sell to dispensaries in Rhode Island, but most of the existing ones grow their own cannabis. The new stores won’t be allowed to grow, creating a much larger market for the wholesale growers.

Rhode Island hasn’t accepted applications for new cultivators since 2017. The moratorium on new growers will continue for at least another two years.

A study produced by the cannabis commission last year found that retail sales increased by 24 percent in 2023, but wholesale production increased by 584 percent, meaning there is more than enough cannabis growing to meet the demand.

It’s not yet clear when the application period will open for new stores. Even if the regulations are finalized quickly, Ahern told the Globe, legal challenges are common in this burgeoning industry — the commission has already been sued more than once — so the new rules could get held up in court. The best case scenario would involve getting the regulations finalized in a matter of months.

“We’re trying to move as diligently as possible,” Ahern said.

Once the new rules are in place, the cannabis commission will officially take over control of Rhode Island’s cannabis industry, as envisioned in the 2022 legalization law. The industry is still overseen by the Rhode Island Department of Business Regulation.

The new cannabis office, led by administrator Michelle Reddish, will include roughly two dozen employees.

People who want to comment on the new rules before Feb. 7 can do so by emailing cccinquiry@ccc.ri.gov, by mail, or in person at the commission’s next meeting at 1 p.m. on Jan. 24.

Steph Machado can be reached at steph.machado@globe.com. Follow her @StephMachado.