PROVIDENCE — Facing the “inevitable” prospect of being encircled by states that have legalized recreational marijuana, Gov. Gina Raimondo will propose this week that Rhode Island do the same.
“I will say, I do this with reluctance,” she told The Journal last week. “I have resisted this for the four years I’ve been governor. ... Now, however, things have changed, mainly because all of our neighbors are moving forward” with legalization.
The proposal, included in her budget plan for the fiscal year beginning July 1, would create one of the most regulated recreational cannabis industries in the country, the governor said, aimed at reducing the health and safety problems experienced in some of the 10 other states that have approved recreational use in recent years.
