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5/9/2025
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Legislators, advocates push for equitable cannabis legislation
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 STATE HOUSE — Sen. Jonathon Acosta and Reps. David Morales and Cherie L. Cruz were joined by advocates and supporters from the Cannabis Policy Coalition at a State House event Thursday to call for the passage of legislation to make the legal cannabis industry more equitable.
“It’s been one of the greatest honors of my time in the General Assembly to work on cannabis policy,” said Senator Acosta (D-Dist.16, Central Falls, Pawtucket). “We passed one of the most progressive and best-designed cannabis legalization bills that we’ve seen, but, as is often said in this building, there is no such thing as a perfect bill. This year’s legislation tries to further improve an imperfect policy by helping to right some of the wrongs committed in our communities over the decades by a drug policy that criminalized people unnecessarily and uselessly.”
Representative Cruz (D-Dist. 58, Pawtucket), who is a cosponsor of the bill, said “Due to the immense harm of the failed war on cannabis, we need to continue working to make policies more just for those who have been disproportionately charged, incarcerated and overpoliced. Three generations of my family have been harmed by these policies, in the same district that I now represent in the General Assembly. These necessary amendments to our cannabis law will strengthen the pathway to employment and ownership for those who have disproportionally suffered the most.”
The legislation (2025-H 5829, 2025-S 0531) sponsored by Rep. Leonela Felix (D-Dist. 61, Pawtucket) and Senator Acosta (D-Dist.16, Central Falls, Pawtucket) would reinvest revenue from the state cannabis industry into communities that have been disproportionally impacted by the prohibition of cannabis and the war on drugs.
“Over the last three years, advocates, community members and legislators have come together to discuss how we can make the Rhode Island Cannabis Act more equitable for all of our communities,” said Representative Felix. “Our communities have suffered disproportionately from the war on drugs, and while the legislation that we passed in 2022 was momentous, it didn’t go far enough. We need more to ensure that our communities are supported the way they need to be supported.”
The legislation would allocate 50 percent of cannabis excise tax revenue toward improving social equity and supporting communities impacted by the prohibition of cannabis and the war on drugs. It would establish a disproportionately impacted areas investment fund to support these historically marginalized communities by funding public housing, public education and health subsidies. For the first five years it would direct 25 percent of this share of the cannabis excise tax to this fund, with the remaining 75 percent going toward the existing social equity fund, which is used to fund technical assistance and grants for members of disproportionately impacted communities getting started in the cannabis industry. After five years, these two funds would split their allocation evenly.
“Despite making progress a few years ago when we finally legalized recreational cannabis, there are still issues of inequity left within our existing law,” said Representative Morales (D-Dist. 7, Providence), who is also a cosponsor of the bill. “It is absolutely imperative that as we continue to move forward within the recreational cannabis industry, it is working people who were directly impacted by the war on drugs that are benefiting and that it is lower-income neighborhoods that are seeing the benefits of the tax revenue that is generated each time cannabis is sold.”
When Rhode Island legalized adult recreational cannabis in 2022, the legislation reserved one license in each of the six state districts for a social equity licensee. In order to ensure that applicants have close ties to a community impacted by the war on drugs, the bill would also tighten up the definition of these applicants. Currently, someone could qualify as a social equity applicant if they have resided for five of the last 10 years in a disproportionately impacted area: this bill changes that to the last five years continuously.
The bill also amends the statute to make clear that no one will be disqualified from participating in the legal cannabis business due to a prior conviction of cannabis possession unless that crime involved distribution to a minor.
Also speaking at the event were Emma Karnes, union organizer with the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 328; Zara Salmon, co-founder of the Cannabis Policy Coalition; and Hector Perez-Aponte, policy analyst at the Economic Progress Institute.
The Cannabis Policy Coalition is an advocacy group composed of small business owners, entrepreneurs, advocates and legislators who are dedicated to equitable and just cannabis policies that prioritize the interests of communities disproportionately affected by cannabis prohibition.
IN PHOTO: Starting second from left, Sen. Jonathon Acosta, Rep. Jennifer A. Stewart, Rep. David Morales, and Rep. Cherie L. Cruz with advocates after the event.
For more information, contact:
Tristan Grau, Publicist
State House Room B20
Providence, RI 02903
401.222.4935
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