On Wednesday Rhode Island Governor Daniel McKee made it official and signed the Rhode Island Cannabis Act, legislation legalizing and regulating recreational adult-use cannabis. Rhode Island is now the 19th state to legalize recreational cannabis.

Under the new law, possession and home-growing of cannabis is now legal for adults age 21 and older, and in-store sales may begin as soon as December 1. The newly established legal cannabis market will be overseen by a new regulatory commission. Members will be appointed by the governor with input from leaders of the General Assembly. Existing medical cannabis establishments will be permitted to obtain hybrid adult-use licenses later this year, and sales are slated to begin in December.

Advocates worked hard to come up with a bill that ensured some measure of racial and economic justice. The law contains automatic expungement of criminal records, protections for workers’ right to organize, and a first-in-the-nation reservation of cannabis retail licenses for worker-owned cooperatives.

Reclaim Rhode Island, which pushed hard for the worker-owned cooperative portion of the bill, say they are “looking forward to helping get these six worker-owned cooperatives up and running” and are looking for people to join them in making this happen.

The automatic expungement part of the bill is a major win. Representative Leonela Felix did the work of knitting together an automatic expungement process that works. The new law will give courts until July 1, 2024, to automatically expunge past convictions, and those who want their expungement sooner may request it.

“The passage of the cannabis legalization bill is a historic achievement, and the inclusion of automatic expungement for past cannabis possession convictions is a civil rights victory, a social justice victory, and an economic victory,” said Representative Felix in a statement. “I know from experience how hard it is to petition for expungement, and too many people have been left behind by our current policy. I’m proud to have worked closely with a dedicated team of community advocates – including Reclaim RI, Marijuana Policy Project, Cherie Cruz and the Formerly Incarcerated Union, UFCW Local 328, Last Prisoner Project, Code for America, and the RI Working Families Party – and legislators – especially Representative Slater and Speaker Shekarchi – to ensure that this key provision made it into the bill.”

“The reality is that prohibition does not stop cannabis use,” said Senate sponsor Senator Joshua Miller (Democrat, District 28, Cranston, Providence). “Since Rhode Islanders can already access cannabis just across the state border or on the illicit market, we experience all the challenges without any of the safeguards or resources that our neighboring states have. With this bill, we are ending prohibition in a way that is safe, keeps revenue in Rhode Island, and is as fair and equitable as we can possibly make it. This bill has been years in the making, and is a collaborative effort to address concerns about protecting medical use, ensuring fair governance and recognizing that we cannot make this transition without taking action to make whole the communities and individuals who have been punished for decades under prohibition.”

“Social equity has been a top concern for us throughout this whole process” said House sponsor Representative Scott Slater (Democrat, District 10, Providence). “Senator Miller and I represent some of the communities that have suffered disproportionate harm from prohibition for decades, resulting in generational poverty and mass incarceration. The starting line isn’t the same for people in poor, urban and minority communities, and they deserve support to ensure they get the full benefit of participating in legalization. I am grateful to my colleagues in the General Assembly for recognizing the importance of expungement of criminal records and equity in licensing, because they are absolutely critical to ending prohibition fairly. Senator Miller and I represent some of the communities that have suffered disproportionate harm from prohibition for decades, resulting in generational poverty and mass incarceration. The starting line isn’t the same for people in poor, urban and minority communities, and they deserve support to ensure they get the full benefit of participating in legalization. I am grateful to my colleagues in the General Assembly for recognizing the importance of expungement of criminal records and equity in licensing, because they are absolutely critical to ending prohibition fairly.”

A comprehensive summary of the legislation can be found here, while the full text of the measure can be found here.

“This bill successfully incorporates our priorities of making sure cannabis legalization is equitable, controlled, and safe,” said Governor McKee, before signing the bill. “In addition, it creates a process for the automatic expungement of past cannabis convictions. My Administration’s original legalization plan also included such a provision and I am thrilled that the Assembly recognized the importance of this particular issue. The end result is a win for our state both socially and economically.”