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.