62% of Rhode Island Social Equity Cannabis Retail Applicants Disqualified During Screening

Rhode Island cannabis regulators announced last week that just 38% of the
state’s social equity pre-applicants for new cannabis retail licenses have
qualified to apply, the Rhode Island Current reports.

State officials are set to issue 24 new adult-use cannabis retail licenses
under the state’s 2022 cannabis legalization law, with six licenses
reserved for social equity applicants. Another six licenses have been set
aside for worker-owned cooperatives.

Of the 94 social equity pre-applications considered by the Cannabis Control
Commission on Friday, just 36 were found to be eligible to apply for one of
the reserved social equity licenses. All of the licenses will be awarded
via lottery on December 29. Pre-applicants who were not approved for a
potential social equity license can still apply in the general lottery.

Social equity applicants had to meet certain qualifying criteria, which
included having lived in an area disproportionately affected by cannabis
prohibition laws or having been previously convicted of drug offenses that
have since been decriminalized. Additionally, applicants with 10 or more
full-time employees who meet the above criteria could qualify, as well as
applicants with significant economic empowerment experience, or those with
income not exceeding 400% of the median in a disproportionately affected
area.

It was the Commission’s first time meeting with just two members,
Commissioners Layi Oduyingbo and Robert Jacquard, after Chairperson
Kimberly Ahern stepped down last month to pursue the state attorney
general’s office in 2026, the report said.

The Commission also voted to adopt hemp product regulations after recently
assuming hemp oversight responsibilities from the Rhode Island Department
of Business Regulation.