{"id":85786,"date":"2026-04-15T07:33:05","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T15:33:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2026\/04\/15\/rhode-island-marijuana-officials-appeal-federal-court-ruling-blocking-licensing-lottery\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T19:47:04","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T03:47:04","slug":"rhode-island-marijuana-officials-appeal-federal-court-ruling-blocking-licensing-lottery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2026\/04\/15\/rhode-island-marijuana-officials-appeal-federal-court-ruling-blocking-licensing-lottery\/","title":{"rendered":"Rhode Island Marijuana Officials Appeal Federal Court Ruling Blocking Licensing Lottery"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

\u201cCannabis law is constantly evolving\u2014we\u2019re just doing our best going forward with the Cannabis Act that we\u2019ve been provided that we need to follow.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

By Christopher Shea, Rhode Island Currant<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
\n

The two-person Rhode Island Cannabis Control Commission and staff met behind closed doors for around an hour Tuesday morning to discuss last week\u2019s federal court order halting the process that was set to award 20 new retail licenses<\/a> as soon as May.<\/p>\n

Three and half hours later, the commission filed an appeal against the April 8 ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Melissa Dubose involving three federal lawsuits challenging the state\u2019s requirement that all cannabis license holders must be majority owned<\/a> by Rhode Island residents.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

No details of the commission\u2019s conversation on the three federal lawsuits filed by out-of-state entrepreneurs, along with the commission\u2019s next steps, were disclosed upon their return to open session.<\/p>\n

The only action taken during the special meeting was to seal the minutes of the executive session and adjourn at around 12:30 p.m. The state\u2019s appeal<\/a> was filed at 4:04 p.m.<\/p>\n

A public update will come Friday during the panel\u2019s monthly open session at the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) offices in Warwick, chief legal counsel Mariana Ormonde told Rhode Island Current after the meeting.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know for a lot of people this looks like it came out of left field,\u201d she said. \u201cBut we\u2019ve been litigating these cases for years, and we actually got the cases dismissed at one point\u2014now they\u2019re back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Commissioner Robert Jacquard issued a similar statement at the beginning of the meeting before making the motion to enter executive session.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe talk about litigation cases in every executive session of our regular monthly meeting,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is not as if we have not talked about them in the last week. Due to the opinion that came out last week, we thought it was prudent that we meet as soon as possible to talk about this again because we know how important it is to so many people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Plaintiffs in each case argued the residency requirement violated the dormant commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits states from engaging in protectionist practices against other states.<\/p>\n

DuBose had initially dismissed the complaints in February 2025 since two were filed before the state\u2019s inaugural cannabis regulations were enacted in May 2025 by the commission. But the cases were revived in December by Boston\u2019s federal appeals court, which demanded DuBose rule based on the merits of the cases.<\/p>\n

The recent injunction against the state means none of the 97 prospective applicants can get their applications reviewed by regulators. It also means would-be business owners will continue to bleed money as they wait to learn whether they can open up their stores.<\/p>\n

Lisa Ann Pontarelli, part-owner of a social equity applicant in Cranston, told Rhode Island Current that she and her partners have collectively put in \u201cat least six figures\u201d in their bid to open up a shop at a former Pizza Hut on Reservoir Avenue.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything\u2019s in order, everything is waiting,\u201d she said while the commission was meeting in closed session. \u201cIt\u2019s all crazy that we\u2019ve been waiting here because of a decision from a judge that doesn\u2019t really make any sense.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ruling<\/a> does make sense to the ACLU of Rhode Island, whose executive director notes that federal law generally supersedes state law when there\u2019s a conflict.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think a state law becomes immune from constitutional scrutiny because people would argue that they probably shouldn\u2019t have the power to pass the law in the first place,\u201d ACLU of Rhode Island Executive Director Steven Brown said in a phone interview Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Michael Yelnosky, a professor at Roger Williams University School of Law, said while cannabis is an unlawful market at the federal level, that does not mean states that allow its sales are exempt from judicial interpretation of the dormant commerce clause.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not a legal market, but it\u2019s a market,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Legal challenges have been filed against states that tried to impose residency requirements, including Maine and New York. Both states then had to update their retail cannabis license rules. Washington\u2019s residency requirement was\u00a0upheld\u00a0by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals earlier in the year.<\/p>\n

Because of the other legal challenges, applicant Jason Calederon, who hopes to open a shop in North Kingstown, says the commission should have tried to get Rhode Island\u2019s law changed at any point throughout the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt any time, they could have called the House or Senate and said we need to amend this law,\u201d Calderon said. \u201cIt\u2019s their ball to run.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two state lawmakers, both Providence Democrats, introduced legislation that would eliminate the residency requirement from Rhode Island\u2019s cannabis law at the beginning of the 2026 legislative session.<\/p>\n

Rep. Scott Slater (D) introduced his bill<\/a> on January 30. A companion bill<\/a> by Sen. Jacob Bisaillon (D) was introduced February 6. Both bills were the subject of committee hearings by their respective chambers on March 12 and held for further study, as is standard procedure for an initial review by a legislative panel.<\/p>\n

But Brown warns the legislation as written may not fully resolve the state\u2019s legal challenge. Both bills still include Rhode Island references in its requirements to apply for social equity licenses, which are reserved for those adversely affected by the war on drugs.<\/p>\n

The\u00a02022 Rhode Island Cannabis Act requires social equity applicants to be from a \u201cdisproportionately impacted area.\u201d Among the qualifiers are being from an area where 75 percent or more of the children participate in the federal free lunch program, according to reported statistics from the Rhode Island Board of Education.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose Rhode Island references are just as problematic because they would have the same effect of automatically disqualifying any out-of-state applicants for these particular licenses,\u201d Brown said.<\/p>\n

Ormonde says the commission\u2019s role is to abide by the laws set by the General Assembly.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe statute is the province of the legislature,\u201d she said. \u201cCannabis law is constantly evolving\u2014we\u2019re just doing our best going forward with the Cannabis Act that we\u2019ve been provided that we need to follow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Slater told Rhode Island Current Tuesday he\u2019s still awaiting guidance from the Cannabis Control Commission\u2019s attorneys on what language could be added to ensure the changes to Rhode Island\u2019s cannabis law meet constitutional muster.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe by Friday when they convene and release more details they\u2019ll have some fixes,\u201d he said in a phone interview.<\/p>\n

An agenda has not yet been posted for Friday\u2019s meeting scheduled for 2 p.m.<\/p>\n

The Cannabis Control Commission has three members, but the chair has been vacant since October when former Chairperson Kim Ahern\u00a0resigned\u00a0to\u00a0pursue a run for state attorney general.<\/p>\n

Olivia DaRocha, a spokesperson for Gov. Dan McKee\u2019s (D) office said in an email Tuesday that the search process is underway and \u201cremains a priority.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll share updates as they become available,\u201d DaRocha said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

This story was first published by Rhode Island Currant.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

The post Rhode Island Marijuana Officials Appeal Federal Court Ruling Blocking Licensing Lottery<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n


\n
\nRead More: Rhode Island Marijuana Officials Appeal Federal Court Ruling Blocking Licensing Lottery<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cCannabis law is constantly evolving\u2014we\u2019re just doing our best going forward with the Cannabis Act that we\u2019ve been provided that we need to follow.\u201d By Christopher Shea, Rhode Island Currant The two-person Rhode Island Cannabis Control Commission and staff met behind closed doors for around an hour Tuesday morning toContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":457,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85786"}],"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\/457"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85786"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85786\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85787,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85786\/revisions\/85787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}