PROVIDENCE – The Rhode Island Senate on Tuesday unanimously confirmed three members to the state’s Cannabis Control Commission, which will be charged with crafting new regulations and running oversight of the industry, including the approval of 24 new retail licenses allowable under the Rhode Island Cannabis Act passed in May 2022
The commission will include McKee’s deputy chief of staff, Kimberly Ahern; Cranston attorney Layi Oduyingbo; and Cranston attorney and retired sergeant of the Cranston Police Department, Robert Jacquard.
Jacquard served as a state representative in the General Assembly from 1993 to 2021. Ahern held previous roles as deputy counsel for former Gov. Gina Raimondo and as a special assistant in the office of the R.I. Attorney General.
Recreational marijuana sales have been legal in Rhode Island since Dec. 1. The RICA gave McKee 40 days to issue his commission nominations. A year-long delay stalled the crafting of the rules that will govern how cannabis products could be advertised and marketed, leaving many business owners such as marijuana cultivators frustrated by the limited dispensaries at which they could sell their products.
McKee’s office repeatedly cited the “extensive” background checks required on each potential nominee as the reason for the delay.
While sales have been happening since Dec. 1, 2022, there remains only nine locations that had already held medical marijuana dispensary licenses now selling marijuana for recreational use.
The General Assembly is also expected to approve legislation that would allow the R.I. Department of Business Regulation to amend regulations allowing for in-state advertising, which was another point of contention among the state’s cannabis industry, which was banned from advertising in the state while their Massachusetts competitors were not.
That bill, sponsored by Rep. Jonathan Acosta, is scheduled for a Senate floor hearing on Wednesday, and would “permit the office of cannabis regulation to provide forms, procedures and requirements with respect to the advertising of cannabis products during the transitional period,” according to a legislative summary.
State officials at the Revenue and Caseload Estimating Conference in May reported $3.4 million in state and local taxes had been collected in the first four months of recreational cannabis sales, which was approximately $2 million less than initially projected.
Christopher Allen is a PBN staff writer. You may contact him at Allen@PBN.com.
