“Our focus is to maintain that momentum by implementing the amended Cannabis Act as efficiently as possible.”

By Christopher Shea, Rhode Island Current

Rhode Island’s Cannabis Control Commission on Friday reopened the application process for prospective retailers after regulators’ first attempt to license more pot shops was halted by a federal court order and voided under a new state law.

Gov. Dan McKee (D) on June 10 signed a pair of bills that undo a provision in the original 2022 Rhode Island Cannabis Act that required cannabis retailers be majority-owned by Rhode Island residents, along with kickstarting a new application process within 60 days.

They’re changes the state made in order to resolve the trio of federal lawsuits that led to U.S. District Court Judge Melissa DuBose blocking the Cannabis Control Commission from holding the lottery it was planning to hold in May to award licenses.

DuBose also stopped regulators from continuing to screen and review any of the 97 retail license applications submitted by the original December 29, 2025, deadline.

“Our focus is to maintain that momentum by implementing the amended Cannabis Act as efficiently as possible,” Michelle Reddish, chairperson of the three-member regulatory panel, said in a statement Thursday.

Online submissions for the state’s three license types will be accepted through Monday, November 23. Prospective retailers seeking a social equity license, reserved for those adversely affected by the war on drugs, must first receive certification by September 11.

The commission’s announcement did not include a timeline for regulators to review applicants nor say when licenses would be awarded.

The revised law requires social equity businesses to be majority owned by one or more people who can show they were disproportionately impacted by criminal enforcement of past prohibitions, including being arrested or having a family member who was.

Under the 2022 act that legalized recreational cannabis, the commission can offer 24 new licenses to retailers, with six reserved for social equity applicants and another six reserved for worker-owned cooperatives. But not every license type received an application in each of the six geographic zones during the first go, which left regulators with a maximum of 20 licenses to issue across the state.

As it stands, nine shops are selling recreational cannabis in Rhode Island under hybrid retail-medicinal licenses grandfathered in from the state’s medical marijuana program.

The halt in the state’s first application pool left many would-be business owners continuing to pay rent on storefronts they may not even be able to open. Though they can’t recoup their property costs, the new state law allows those initial applicants to be refunded any fees paid to the commission.

All prospective retailers were required to pay an application fee of $7,500 and a yearly $30,000 licensing fee. Fees were waived for the first year for approved social equity applicants.

Over half of all applicants—56—sought general retail licenses. Another 19 were worker cooperatives while the remaining 23 were for social equity applicants.

Charon Rose, spokesperson for the Cannabis Control Commission, said in an email Friday that refund checks are expected to be issued on a rolling basis beginning next week. She did not state how many of the 75 applicants who paid the original application fee sought refunds.

This story was first published by Rhode Island Current.

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Cannabis reform’s sworn enemy is claiming credit for the quests to end adult-use marijuana sales in Maine and Massachusetts, where in the latter state signature-gatherers are allegedly resorting to deceptive tactics.

Smart Approaches to Marijuana, a Washington, D.C., area-based anti-legalization organization, is contributing “multimillion-dollar support” to voter initiative campaigns that, if successful, would end a combined $1.8 billion in annual cannabis sales, its founder and president claimed last week.

State-level adult-use cannabis legalization campaigns have had mixed success in past years, with voters rejecting adult-use pushes in Oklahoma in 2023 and Florida last year.

But never have state voters or lawmakers had second thoughts and rolled back adult-use or medical marijuana legalization.

That would change if voter-initiative campaigns in Massachusetts, where signature-gathering is underway, and in Maine, where the state attorney general cleared petitions to begin, are successful.

If passed, cannabis would remain legal for adults but medical cannabis would be the only legal sales channel.

Annual cannabis sales exceed $1.6 billion in Massachusetts and are approaching $300 million in Maine, according to state data.

Who’s behind campaigns to end adult-use marijuana sales in Massachusetts and Maine?

Republican Party-affiliated political operatives with the Coalition for a Healthy Massachusetts have declined to say who’s paying for the pricey signature-gathering campaign – and with campaign finance filings still not due, that information is not publicly available.

Wendy Wakeman, a spokeswoman for the campaign, again declined to identify supporters during a brief telephone interview on Tuesday.

But on Thursday, a few hours after President Donald Trump signed an executive order that, when fulfilled, will downgrade cannabis’ status under federal law, SAM co-founder and President Kevin Sabet claimed to be behind the campaigns.

“Now, today, for the first time, I can also announce our multi-million-dollar support for two grassroots campaigns to end marijuana sales and commercialization in Maine and Massachusetts,” Sabet said in a video posted to X.

“We still have the power to take back our public health.”

SAM did not respond to an email seeking comment.

Dark money, allegedly deceptive tactics behind anti-legalization effort

With campaign finance forms not yet filed, it’s still not known exactly how much cash SAM is devoting to the causes.

SAM’s backers have long been a contentious subject of speculation in the cannabis advocacy world.

SAM Action, a 501(c)4 affiliate of the organization, recently claimed to have spent in excess of $100,000 on television ads urging Trump not to reschedule cannabis.

Critics point out that Internal Revenue Service reporting rules allow 501(c)4 organizations to hide their donors.

In Massachusetts, campaign workers stand accused of attempting to deceive voters into signing the petitions.

However, such tactics are First Amendment-protected activity, courts have found.

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