Although Rhode Island became the 19th state to legalize recreational cannabis as of May, local voters in most municipalities will have the final say in November on whether retail marijuana shops will be allowed in their communities.
But a few cities and towns aren’t bothering to ask voters, instead opting in now because the economic benefits are too good to reject.
A local referendum vote is the only way that cities and towns can prohibit recreational sales within their borders – a provision added to the Rhode Island Cannabis Act when the Rhode Island League of Cities and Towns advocated for individual municipalities to have more say.
Thirty-one Rhode Island municipalities have taken that route, filing to put the question on local November ballots. Another three communities – Providence, Warwick and Portsmouth – already have licensed medical cannabis treatment centers and will automatically allow cannabis sales.
But the leaders of five other municipalities – Cranston, Pawtucket, Central Falls, Exeter and Foster – elected not to leave it up to the local voters. Some said they felt that there is adequate public support for recreational cannabis and they are eager for the tax boost that comes along with the sales. Under state law, sales will be taxed at 20%, which includes the state’s existing 7% sales tax, a 10% cannabis excise tax and a 3% local tax that will go to the municipality where the sale takes place.
This tax boost, combined with Cranston’s experience with medical marijuana cultivators already in the city, made a referendum seem unnecessary, City Council President Christopher G. Paplauskas says.
And recreational cannabis will make its way into the city regardless of where it’s sold, he adds.
“I think it’s obvious that recreational marijuana is here to stay, whether you buy it in a neighboring community or in Cranston,” Paplauskas said. “So if Cranston did opt out, it would be a loss for taxpayers to not have an opportunity to opt into that revenue.”
The opportunity was also too valuable to delay in rural Foster, says Town Council President Denise DiFranco. The council members discussed the issue at length before deciding to opt in.
“We have no business in town,” DiFranco said. “We’re a very small town, and our residents are our tax base … we’re hoping to get something in town, and this seems like it might be not an answer but at least a start.”
The town of nearly 4,500 residents also hopes to host a compassion center, DiFranco says, but that hasn’t been finalized yet.
“We felt that since the compassion center seemed to be getting positive feedback from residents of the town, we would move forward,” she said.
Where the recreational cannabis question will be on the ballot on Nov. 8, some leaders say that the referendum isn’t about an effort to oppose its sale.
In Narragansett, Town Council President Jesse Pugh said that he doesn’t think of the ballot vote as a means to block the measure in Narragansett.
“It was more about letting the voters decide,” Pugh said. “We were just voting on whether it should go on the ballot for the voters to choose.”
Smithfield Town Council members had the same thought, says Council President Suzy Alba.
“We really feel that the residents of the community should be able to have a say in whether or not retail locations should be allowed in Smithfield,” Alba said.
Under the new state law, up to 33 retail stores will be licensed in Rhode Island. The state’s Cannabis Control Commission hasn’t determined how it will decide who gets licenses and where. Retail sales are scheduled to start on Dec. 1.
