Rhode Island Coalition Struggles To Create One Of The Most Progressive Equity-Focused Cannabis Programs In The Country

As federal cannabis legalization appears to be inevitable, two questions are often asked – when and how? The latter referring to how legal cannabis will be regulated.

While more and more states vote or legislatively choose to legalize medical or adult-use cannabis, there is growing emphasis to include equity measures to help correct years of racial disparities and outright injustices caused by the failed war on drugs.

The state of Rhode Island seems to be taking the lead in this.

The Most Progressive Measure 

A coalition of anti-racist cannabis activists and labor organizers is pushing for one of the most progressive cannabis legalization measures in the U.S., writes The Intercept.

At the moment, New York has the most social justice-focused pot policy, with 40% of the state's cannabis tax revenue earmarked for investment in Black and Latinx communities most affected by the drug war and half of New York's cannabis licenses will go to social equity applicants. New York also has an automatic expungement system for those convicted of cannabis-related offenses.  

Rhode Island, however, hopes to go even further by “prioritizing cannabis licenses for community-based, worker-owned cooperatives while ensuring cannabis workers’ ability to collectively organize.”

The idea behind keeping half of the social equity licenses (which already account for half of the total number of licenses) reserved for worker cooperatives is to prevent big corporations from swooping in and essentially setting up monopolies.

Just last Tuesday, Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) revealed its support of the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act of 2021 and announced it will stop testing for workplace cannabis use in most positions. While some may find this to be an important step in support of cannabis-related initiatives, CNN Business said the action is “indicating a growing willingness in Corporate America to throw its weight behind the issue.” 

The Current 'State Of Cannabis' In Rhode Island 

Existing proposals from Rhode Island Senate and Gov. Dan McKee hold almost no equity provisions, The Intercept pointed out. Recently another bill with more equity provisions was proposed in the state House, but this one also does not include reserving licenses for worker-owned cooperatives.

“The protections against discrimination and further decriminalization of cannabis-related activities is really crucial,” Jared Moffat, Rhode Island organizer for the Marijuana Policy Project, told The Intercept. “We have every reason to think that, if these policies are not addressed, people of color will once again be disproportionately impacted, just as they are under the current regime.”

The Rhode Island cannabis campaign aims to protect cannabis workers’ ability to organize and to push for the inclusion of a labor peace agreement in any legislation.

While all this looks like a fantastic start, one thing is certain – dealing with past injustices requires enormous effort and patience.

Long And Bumpy Road

In 2020 alone, 94% of those arrested for cannabis-related offenses in New York City were people of color, despite statistics revealing that cannabis usage between whites and Blacks is just about the same.   

Pushing for the country’s most progressive equity-focused cannabis program in a state like Rhode Island where anyone arrested with more than five kilos of cannabis without a medical license could face 10 years in prison is quite a challenge.

Will they succeed in their moral initiative? Only time will tell.  

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash