![]() “It is one of our concerns being that it’s such a complex integration systematically,” Aura operations manager Andrew Croan said. That greenlight gave regulators and operators a relatively short window to implement Metrc, a seed-to-sale tracking software utilized in dozens of cannabis markets across the country.Īura had only six to weeks to integrate the software and update its inventory as regulators worked out technical glitches and bugs. The transition from outright legalization to establishing a regulated market took only six months, “marking the Northeast’s fastest implementation period,” Matt Santacroce, interim deputy director of the Rhode Island Department of Business Regulation, said last week in a news release announcing the licensed dispensaries. New Hampshire is now the last outlier in the region. That solidified Rhode Island as the 19th state to legalize recreational marijuana, ending one of the last holdouts in New England. The Legislature first approved the use of medical marijuana in 2006 but didn’t vote on adult-use sales until 16 years later, when the House and Senate overwhelmingly approved a law change in May. On one hand, the state was among the first to establish a medical market with the introduction of so-called compassion centers in 2009, a system largely unchanged until recently. ![]() Rhode Island’s evolution into recreational sales is somewhat contradictory. The state will allow up to 33 adult-use stores, which must pay a 3% local tax on recreational cannabis sales and a 10% retail excise tax.Ĭities that ban sales are not eligible for cannabis-generating tax funds. Recreational marijuana sales were rejected in Barrington, East Greenwich, Jamestown, Little Compton, Scituate and Smithfield, according to Providence TV station WPRI.Ĭities that had already approved medical cannabis – including some of the state’s most populated, Cranston, Pawtucket, Providence and Warwick – were barred from opting out, a distinction that’s quite different than other marijuana markets. Voters in 31 Rhode Island municipalities earlier this month weighed in on legalization through ballot measures. It represents one of the highest, if not the highest, percentage of opt-ins by municipalities among any recreational market, according to MJBizDaily research.īy contrast, in California, the nation’s largest market, only about 40% of cities and counties are opting in for adult-use sales – and that’s one of the reasons the state’s underground market has thrived after legalization. The market will open with 33 of the state’s 39 municipalities opting in, or nearly 85%. Rhode Island’s adult-use sales are expected to total $80 million within the first year and $300 million by the fourth year, according to MJBizDaily projections. We think it’s going to be huge,” said Joe Pakuris, co-owner of Mother Earth Wellness, which opened its doors as a medical marijuana dispensary Nov. “We’re very excited for recreational to open up.
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