Rhode Island is living in the wild, wild west… of cannabis! Though we’ve had a medicinal market since 2012, our recreational market is only one year old. We’re babies! Since we are in the infancy of this industry, stumbles and falls are bound to happen. A legalization like this hasn’t happened since prohibition. So how can we predict a future for a novel industry? Well, it’s not that novel.
As the saying goes, if you don’t know your history then you’re doomed to repeat it. So before we take a look into the future, let’s travel back in time. Cannabis was used throughout early American life in various ways including in rope, pharmaceuticals, and even currency in some states. It was so important to early American life that in 1619, Virginia passed a law requiring hemp to be grown at every farm in the colony. So what happened?
Harry “Fuckboy” Ansligner (real name Harry Jacob Anslinger but feel free to keep the nickname) is what happened. Long story short: Anslinger began his career in government as the Assistant Commissioner in the United States Treasury Department’s Bureau of Prohibition in 1929. By 1933, alcohol was made legal and he needed something else to focus on as the newly appointed Commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, the precursor to the DEA. So, he focused on cannabis, commissioning a report called the Gore Files that attributed cannabis use to cases of domestic violence, murders, and rapes. Of the 200 claims in those files, 198 of them have since been debunked. He also used linguistics to confuse the masses by referring to cannabis (a term widely used in pharmaceutics) as marijuana (a Mexican Spanish word) and reefer (often used among Black Americans). He assumed this tactic would play on racial fears so much that Americans wouldn’t realize that it was the same substance in their own medicine cabinets, and he was right. By 1937, four years after prohibition ended, the Marihuana Tax Act was passed, making possession and transfer illegal throughout the US.
Now here we are. It’s 2023 and after 86 years cannabis is recreationally and medically legal in RI again! So what does this mean? At present, we have seven open dispensaries catering to the entirety of the state due to strict regulations and limited licenses. Compare that to 162 liquor stores. The limited number of owners in this industry leaves it susceptible to price gouging and monopolization. Jacob Carlson, CEO of Boston’s EzHire Cannabis, says, “Cannabis’ overregulation is holding back what the market needs. There’s no other industry that’s under regulation and rest.
Jacob Carlson, CEO of Boston’s EzHire Cannabis, says, “Cannabis’ overregulation is holding back what the market needs. There’s no other industry that’s under regulation and restriction [like cannabis]. Until cannabis is regulated truly like alcohol, there’ll be four or five major brands controlling most of the industry. Sure, you’ll have your smaller, more regional mom and pops, similar to craft beer; but the large organizations that know how to fundraise will stand the test of time.”
Until RI commits to page 15, line 4 of the RI Cannabis Act which, in layman’s terms, states that cannabis should be an industry comparable to alcohol, there will only be a few key stakeholders in the space. Cannabis patient and disability advocate Savannah Martin voiced her thoughts on the current industry, saying, “Cannabis patients deserve and need affordable, quality medical marijuana. There used to be a Social Security Income discount [in RI] but even that was only 10%. It seems like medical marijuana is a profit-heavy market when it should be a compassionate atmosphere, but it’s not like that. Some patients have to decide between paying for gas or suffering through chronic pain.”
If RI’s Cannabis Control Commission (CCC) does not add more licenses beyond the 33 that are permitted in the state, the future corporatization of cannabis for many medical patients means that they will be forced to obtain cannabis through illegal means, risking fines, just to obtain their medicine. While a solution for this can be subsidizing costs through medical insurance, we would first need to remove cannabis’ federal designation as a Schedule I drug for that conversation to even begin.
So what does the future of RI cannabis look like? If things stay as they are, then we will continue to see very few people have access to ownership opportunities and patients being priced out of the market. This does not have to be the case, and cannabis organizers all over RI are advocating for a more equitable industry where small businesses and large corporations can coexist. It seems like the CCC is listening to the plight of the people but the people need to continue to voice their frustrations. If we want to see an industry that serves us all, then we the people have to be active co-creators of this developing landscape.
Zara A. Salmon is a lover of justice, travel, and of course, cannabis.
