Rhode Island has delayed a medical cannabis dispensary licensing lottery, which was originally planned for the first week of August, due to an administrative appeal brought forth by one of the rejected lottery applicants.
The Providence Journal reported that Office of Cannabis Regulation Chief Matthew Santacroce said July 27 that the lottery to award six new licenses won’t be rescheduled “until that appeal has run its course.”
The state received 45 applications from 28 different companies in December, and subsequently qualified 24 applicants for the lottery, according to the news outlet.
The state has identified the four companies that did not qualify for the lottery as Enlite RI Inc., Livity Compassion Center, Atlas Enterprises Inc. and the Edward O. Hawkins Center Inc., but has not indicated which company is appealing its exclusion from the lottery.
Rhode Island currently has three licensed medical cannabis dispensaries—The Thomas C. Slater Compassion Center in Providence, the Greenleaf Compassion Center in Portsmouth and the Summit Medical Compassion Center in Warwick—and former Gov. Gina Raimondo’s administration expanded the number of licenses in the state, with the application opening last summer.
The state is still devising a plan for how the licensing lottery will operate, The Providence Journal reported, and is seeking input from the Division of Lottery.
