The top lawmakers in Rhode Island\u2019s House and Senate both say marijuana legalization in \u201cinevitable\u201d in the state\u2014but nevertheless, there\u2019s still uncertainty about the prospects of passing the reform this year.<\/p>\n
As the legislature considers separate legalization proposals from the governor and legislative leaders, both House Speaker Joseph Shekarchi (D) and Senate President Dominick Ruggerio (D) have said that the writing is on the wall when it comes to ending prohibition. That said, concerns about the certain provisions of the measures have left the leaders unsure of when exactly marijuana prohibition could end.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am not philosophically opposed to the legalization of recreational marijuana,\u201d Shekarchi told<\/a> The Providence Journal this week. \u201cI don\u2019t want people to get that impression, because I am not.\u201d<\/p>\n However, the specifics of the legislation have faced opposition, creating \u201ca lot of uncertainty around it.\u201d Legalization is \u201cinevitable\u201d and \u201cgoing to happen,\u201d he said, but the deal isn\u2019t done yet, in part because legislators need to nail down the rules and regulations around licensing, taxation and the role of the state\u2019s existing medical cannabis market.<\/p>\n The speaker said in a separate interview<\/a> that while the House Finance Committee is slated to take up Gov. Daniel McKee\u2019s (D) legalization proposal<\/a> on Thursday, it\u2019s \u201cvery possible it might not get done this year.\u201d<\/p>\n A competing legalization bill\u2014one that was put together by Senate Majority Leader Michael McCaffrey (D) and a key chairman at the behest of Ruggerio<\/a>\u2014is also in play this session.<\/p>\n \u201cAs far as marijuana goes, I want to be steady and slow. I want to study it more, and take a deliberative approach,\u201d\u00a0Shekarchi said. \u201cI\u2019m not in a rush to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n Ruggerio echoed the speaker\u2019s point and characterized the reform move as \u201cinevitable\u201d in an interview with the Journal. But while advocates would generally prefer for that inevitability to come to fruition sooner rather than later, the Senate leader also tempered expectations and said legalization might not happen in 2021.<\/p>\n \u201cDo we need to pass it this year? Not necessarily, but I think we have worked pretty hard on this and the governor has, the governor\u2019s office,\u201d he said. \u201cThe House doesn\u2019t really have a plan at this point in time so we will see where it goes.\u201d<\/p>\n There is not yet a standalone legalization bill in the House this session. But beyond considering the governor\u2019s proposal on Thursday, the Finance Committee will also be taking up<\/a> a bill from Rep. Scott Slater (D) that he\u2019s described as establishing a \u201cde facto recreational program.\u201d<\/p>\n The legislation would eliminate a series of existing regulations for the state\u2019s medical cannabis program such as the plant-tagging system for patients and caregivers who want to cultivate marijuana. Annual dispensary license fees would be reduced from $500,000 to $5,000 and the cap on the number of shops that could operate would be removed.<\/p>\n Further, the definition of who could qualify as a medical marijuana patient would be significantly expanded to include \u201cany serious health condition a reasonable practitioner believes, based on their experience, knowledge, and reasonable judgment as a health care provider, could be alleviated or treated through the use of medical marijuana.\u201d Nurse practitioners, and not just doctors, would be allowed to recommend cannabis.<\/p>\n The committee is also slated to consider two other medical cannabis-focused measures. One would earmark marijuana tax revenue for a \u201cdistressed communities relief fund,\u201d as well as charitable organizations that legislative leaders would select each year. The other bill would require the state Department of Business Regulation to analyze the licensing system from a social equity and racial perspective and move to eliminate barriers to entry for people most impacted by prohibition to participate in the industry.<\/p>\n Thursday\u2019s House meeting comes weeks after the Senate Judiciary and Finance Committees heard testimony from administration officials on McKee\u2019s budget measure as well as legislative leaders sponsoring the competing bill. While the panels didn\u2019t vote on either proposal<\/a>, members generally discussed legalization as an inevitability in the state, especially with neighboring states enacting the reform.<\/p>\n Both the governor and the leaders\u2019 legalization plans are notably different than the proposal that former Gov. Gina Raimondo (D) had included in her budget last year. Prior to leaving office to join the Biden administration<\/a>\u00a0as commerce secretary, she\u00a0called for legalization through a state-run model<\/a>.<\/p>\n McKee gave initial insights into his perspective on the reform in January, saying that \u201cit\u2019s time that [legalization] happens\u201d and that he\u2019s \u201cmore\u00a0leaning towards an entrepreneurial strategy<\/a>\u00a0there to let that roll that way.\u201d<\/p>\n Shekarchi, meanwhile, has said he\u2019s \u201cabsolutely\u201d open to the idea of cannabis legalization<\/a>\u00a0and also leans toward privatization.<\/p>\n Late last year, the Senate Finance Committee\u00a0began preliminary consideration of legalization<\/a>\u00a0in preparation for the 2021 session, with lawmakers generally accepting the reform as an inevitability. \u201cI certainly do think we\u2019ll act on the issue, whether it\u2019s more private or more state,\u201d Sen. Ryan Pearson (D), who now serves as the panel\u2019s chairman, said at the time.<\/p>\n The growing momentum in Rhode Island also comes as lawmakers in neighboring\u00a0Connecticut are also moving toward legalizing marijuana<\/a> this year. Gov. Ned Lamont (D) included a cannabis legalization plan in his budget request last month.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the Rhode Island Senate approved a bill last month that would allow safe consumption sites<\/a>\u00a0where people could use illicit drugs under medical supervision and receive resources to enter treatment. Harm reduction advocates say this would prevent overdose deaths and help de-stigmatize substance misuse.<\/p>\n The Senate Judiciary Committee also held a hearing last month on legislation that would end criminal penalties for possessing small amounts of drugs<\/a>\u00a0and replace them with a $100 fine.<\/p>\n Key Senate Chair Shifts Stance On Tying Marijuana Banking Bill To Sentencing Reform<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n The post Marijuana Legalization \u2018Inevitable,\u2019 Top Rhode Island Lawmakers Say, But It Might Not Happen This Year<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
The top lawmakers in Rhode Island\u2019s House and Senate both say marijuana legalization in \u201cinevitable\u201d in the state\u2014but nevertheless, there\u2019s still uncertainty about the prospects of passing the reform this year. As the legislature considers separate legalization proposals from the governor and legislative leaders, both House Speaker Joseph Shekarchi (D)Continue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47388"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47388"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47388\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47389,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47388\/revisions\/47389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: Marijuana Legalization \u2018Inevitable,\u2019 Top Rhode Island Lawmakers Say, But It Might Not Happen This Year<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"