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Rhode Island Lawmakers Unveil Legalization Plan - 3 2 2022 11 05 25 AM

Green Thumb Industries (GTBIF) entered three new states in 2021, Virginia, Rhode Island, and Minnesota.

While the smallest state by area, Rhode Island is the second-most densely populated after New Jersey.

In August, GTBIF acquired one of three available state licenses, which gained us a medical dispensary and a cultivation facility.

Yesterday, Rhode Island Democrats seemed ready to make another run at recreational marijuana legalization. On Tuesday, the house and Senate introduced legislation that would legalize consumption and sales for anyone at least 21 years old on Oct. 1, 2022.

There's widespread agreement among lawmakers that they should establish an adult-use market, but reaching an agreement on the details is challenging.

That's unlikely to change even though the House and Senate are on the same page regarding the legalization framework.

Two contentious issues:

  1. Lawmakers want to create a new state agency to oversee the regulated market. At the same time, Democratic Gov. Dan McKee's legalization plan calls for the Department of Business Regulation to supervise the new industry.
  2. In addition, progressive advocates have identified automatic expungements of old marijuana-related crimes as a top priority. Unfortunately, the new proposal only provides a mechanism for ex-offenders to request those records scrapped.