After months of delays, Rhode Island’s cannabis market cleared crucial hurdles when the R.I. Cannabis Control Commission and Cannabis Advisory Board got off the ground earlier this year, but now regulators are facing a new challenge: determining which applicants should receive one of the six so-called “social equity” licenses.
Advocates are expressing concerns that some of the criteria to qualify for a social equity retail license are vulnerable to being exploited by applicants who don’t need the assistance.
The Rhode Island Cannabis Act states that a social equity applicant is someone who “has been disproportionately impacted by criminal enforcement of marijuana laws.” This includes people and immediate family members who have been convicted of nonviolent marijuana offenses or lived in unequally affected areas for at least five of the last 10 years.
An applicant can qualify for a social equity license if it meets one of five criteria, the act says.
Advocates are pushing for two criteria to be changed. First, the language stating that a social equity applicant only needs to have 51% of their workers identify as former drug offenders and living in affected communities, while the applicant does not have to. Second, the provision that opens a social equity license to those who have shown they’ve promoted “economic empowerment in disproportionate areas.”
Zara Salmon, founder of cannabis-related lifestyle business CRAVEInfused LLC, notes that this language could allow someone such as a wealthy business owner to qualify as a social equity applicant just by donating money or hiring enough employees from affected communities, even if they were not personally affected by the “war on drugs.”
“How is a wealthy business owner in need of a social equity license?” Salmon said. “I just want the cannabis industry [regulators] to do right by history.”
Closing these loopholes in Rhode Island’s cannabis law is something Rep. David Morales, D-Providence, hopes to accomplish next year.
But even if the law doesn’t get changed, Morales says he hopes the commission will focus on an applicant’s socioeconomic status and how they were personally affected by the war on drugs.
Kimberly Ahern, chairperson of the Cannabis Control Commission, says commission members are examining how Massachusetts and other states have dealt with social equity issues after legalizing adult-use cannabis.
The commission also is collecting data from state agencies to help assess “which communities have been disproportionately impacted and how to determine if someone is a member of such a community in the state,” Ahern said in a statement to PBN.
The plan is to open applications for all 24 retail licenses in 2024, but the timeline is “dependent on multiple factors that will make this an iterative process,” Ahern said.
Christopher Fevry, who serves on Massachusetts’ social equity advisory board, says Rhode Island could benefit from narrowing down the definition of “social equity” in the cannabis regulations to ensure the intended communities receive those licenses.
Also, he says the state should consider allocating more social equity licenses. Massachusetts does not have a limit and the state’s social equity program is centered around offering guidance to those affected by the war on drugs in applying for a license.
Robert Pena, an officer with the worker-owned PVDFlowers Cooperative, has attended some of the R.I. Cannabis Control Commission’s public “listening sessions” and says the panel seems to be receptive.
“I just hope they continue in the spirit of the bill to be stewards of fighting the backlash of the war on drugs,” Pena said.
