Rhode Island Releases New Medical Cannabis Pharmacy Licenses |

After a series of delays and legal obstacles, the state of Rhode Island finally appears ready to issue new licenses for medical marijuana dispensaries.

The state’s Department of Business Regulation announced last week that it would start a lottery for five new pharmacy licenses this Friday.

Described as a “highly choreographed” event by local broadcaster WPRI, the lottery will be held at the Rhode Island Department of Administration in the capital, Providence, with limited general seating for the general public. The lottery will also be broadcast live via Zoom.

The licenses are granted to pharmacies from five different geographical zones. WPRI informs about the event: “A total of 37 applications from 23 companies will be involved for the five coveted licenses. The lottery balls have been out since the 30th morning. A second exercise ball was used to demonstrate the procedure. “

The announcement follows delays in the lottery process. The lottery was originally scheduled to take place in the first week of August but has been postponed due to an appeal from a rejected applicant.

Matthew Santacroce, head of the Office of Cannabis Regulation in the Department of Business Regulation, told the Providence Journal at the time that the lottery would not run “until this appeal is completed.”

But that has still not been resolved. WPRI reported that “a date for the appeal hearing has still not been set” and that Santacroce “did not decline to comment on the ongoing appeal process”.

The appeal is made by a company called Atlas Enterprises Inc., which, according to WPRI, “filed a motion to open a pharmacy in Newport where such business is prohibited by local regulations”.

Rhode Island legalized medical cannabis in 2006 when state lawmakers passed the Edward O. Hawkins and Thomas C. Slater Medical Marijuana Act. The state legislature overruled the then Republican Governor Don Carcieri’s veto to enforce the law.

Patients in Rhode Island can obtain a prescription through the state Department of Health if they have any of several qualifying conditions: cancer or the treatment for that condition; Glaucoma or treatment for this condition; Positive status for Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) or treatment for this condition; Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) or treatment for this condition; and hepatitis C or the treatment for this condition.

But 25 years after that bill was passed, the Providence Journal found that the state still only has three medical marijuana dispensaries.

It may not take adults long in the ocean state to legally purchase weed. In June, the Rhode Island Senate passed a bill to legalize cannabis use. The bill was driven by Democratic lawmakers, including Senate Majority Leader Joshua Miller.

“It’s a historic day because it is the first time a bill to legalize and regulate cannabis has reached either of the two legislative chambers in Rhode Island,” Miller said after the bill was passed. “It is important that we act swiftly in order to enact a regulatory framework.”

Legislators have continued to iron out the provisions of the legislation in the months since, and last week WPRI reported that legislature leaders “are getting closer to an agreement on legalizing recreational marijuana but still haven’t agreed what kind of marijuana.” Governing body is supervised “. , regulate and issue retail licenses in the potentially lucrative legal cannabis market. “