RI Lawmakers Take Another Step Toward Marijuana Legalization

PROVIDENCE, RI — Rhode Island lawmakers took new steps toward making recreational marijuana legal for adults in the Ocean State.

The Rhode Island Cannabis Act was first introduced in March but has since undergone a few tweaks. State Sen. Joshua Miller (D-Cranston) and state Rep. Scott Slater (D-Providence) amended their versions of the bill to automatically expunge previous convictions for cannabis possession, upon legalization. The amended bill is to be taken up in committee Wednesday and then could head to the floor of both chambers Tuesday.

"The amended bill is a collaborative effort to address concerns about protecting medical use, ensuring fair governance and recognizing that we cannot make this transition without taking action to make whole the communities and individuals who have been punished for decades under prohibition," Miller said.

If the bill passes, Rhode Island residents 21 and older would be allowed to sell and possess up to 1 ounce of cannabis, keep no more than 10 ounces in their home and grow a small amount. It would allow 33 retail licenses across six zones in the state to sell marijuana, including nine compassion centers that would function as hybrid medical/recreational dispensaries.

Another key change was the elimination of fees imposed on patients in the state's medical cannabis program for purchases, registering identification cards and plant tags, which would be effective on Dec. 1, when recreational marijuana would be legalized if the bill becomes law.

There would be no change to the originally proposed 10 percent state cannabis excise tax, the 7 percent sales tax and the 3 percent tax going to the city or town where the sale takes place.