This is an important day for Rhode Island and the Commission. This is the culmination years of collaboration and work.
Christopher Shea, Rhode Island Currant
The Rhode Island retail cannabis market has been growing rapidly for nearly three-years. The day has arrived.
At the start of the Cannabis Control Commission’s monthly meeting Friday afternoon, chairperson Kimberly Ahern announced regulators are now accepting online applications for two dozen new retail licenses through late December.
The 2022 Act that will legalize recreational cannabis allows the Commission to offer new retail licenses. Six of these are reserved for applicants who meet the social equity criteria, and the other six for workers’ cooperatives.
On August 29, the commission began screening applicants for social equity. Social equity applicants are defined as those who were adversely affected by the War on Drugs, including residents in census tracts of five Rhode Island municipalities identified as “disproportionately impacted” areas from past cannabis prohibition.
According to Michelle Reddish, the Rhode Island Cannabis Administrator, 89 applicants for social equity screening had applied as of Friday. It is estimated that certification will be completed in November.
Six geographical zones are to be used for the distribution of all recreational licenses, each zone having a maximum number of four outlets.
Regulations will be accepting submissions until 4 pm on Monday December 29. Ahern stated that staff from the Cannabis Office and Commission will offer technical guidance to prospective applicants.
Ahern stated that “today is an important day for both the Rhode Island Commission and Rhode Island.” “This landmark represents years of collaboration and work.”
The state has certainly had a long road to establish its cannabis recreational market. Over a year passed before the three-member commission was impaneled, which then needed to hire staff to draft proposals and conduct a review of rules adopted in other states.
It was left to the seven medical marijuana dispensaries that already existed in the state. They were allowed to begin selling recreational cannabis with hybrid licenses.
Those seven stores sold a combined $118 million worth of cannabis products last year, according to state data. Existing hybrid retailers made almost $80 million of sales by the end August 2025.
In April, the Commission approved final regulations that will come into force in May.
In the first round of rules, applicants must be pre-screened for qualifications and then placed into a random lottery in six geographical zones.
The licensing fee is $30,000 per year. All potential retailers must pay an $7,500 application fee. But the application fee will be waived for the first year for approved social equity applicants—whose qualifications for the speciality license through the end of September.
The original publication of this story is Rhode Island Currant.