Issue 45: Will Rhode Island Ever Get A CCC of Their Own?
Almost a year after legalizing, Rhode Island's Governor still hasn't appointed anyone to the state's Cannabis Control Commission.
Welcome to Issue #45 of Burn After Reading! You can check out last week’s issue here. If you haven’t subscribed already, head here.
With Cannabis Commission Appointments in Limbo, Rhode Island’s Legislature Takes on a Regulatory Role
Do you remember a few issues ago, when I pointed out that Rhode Island’s governor was months late on a deadline to make his appointments to the state’s Cannabis Control Commission?
Well, I regret to inform you that nothing has changed. As we rapidly approach the one year anniversary of Governor McKee’s missed deadline, his office is still refusing to give any meaningful answers as to why the appointments haven’t happened, other than this vague explanation provided to the Globe:
“We are continuing to work through the process at this time. The statute requires that all candidates undergo a complete background check and investigation into potential conflicts prior to appointment. This process is ongoing.”
It’s pretty outrageous that a public official can be almost a year behind a deadline and fail to offer any meaningful explanation as to why that’s the case, but considering Rhode Island’s well established track record of political shenanigans, it’s probably safe to say that something shady is going on.
Rhode Island’s CCC Appointment Process
As reported by The Public’s Radio, House Speaker Joe Shekarchi recommended three individuals for the Commission:
Robert Jacquard, a former state representative
Stephen M. McCartney, a former Warwick police chief
Rachel Russell, a consignment shop owner in Providence.
The role that the speaker of the house plays in the CCC appointment process is a bit convoluted: While the governor (with the “advice and consent of the senate”) is ultimately responsible for the Commission appointments, the speaker was required to submit a list of three recommended individuals to the governor, who is then only supposed to take the list in consideration for one of the three appointments. That being said, the law doesn’t require the Governor to actually appoint any of the speaker’s recommended appointments.
The governor also chooses the commission’s chair.
More Power, Fewer Hands
While Rhode Island does save some salary expenses by not following Massachusetts example of having five cannabis commissioners, it also places a large amount of power and responsibility into the hands of three individuals, all of whom who are ultimately appointed by the same person.
This is somewhat alarming, given we’ve already seen some cannabis-related corruption in Rhode Island’s government.
In October 2022, news broke that John Conti, a top aide to House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarch, was a silent partner in a marijuana growing business that had ties to the mob.
While Shekarch denied that Conti had anything to do with the crafting of the Rhode Island Cannabis Act of 2022, Common Cause of Rhode Island called on the governor to reject Shekarch’s proposed Commission appointments, saying that the legislature “should not be involved in the day-to-day regulation of Rhode Island’s newly legalized recreational marijuana market.”
The Legislature Grabs the Regulatory Reins
This week, the Rhode Island House passed a bill that eliminated the state’s previous rule banning cannabis companies from advertising, stepping into a regulatory role that was originally intended for the state’s CCC.
While I have no qualms with this particular piece of legislation, it’s a bit alarming that Rhode Island’s Speaker gets to suddenly play a role as a de-facto cannabis commissioner.
Rhode Island’s cannabis laws include important carve outs for social equity business and employee-owned enterprises. But with no appointments to the commission, the state is unable to issue any additional licenses besides the ones already awarded to existing medical dispensaries.
I think it’s fair to say that it’s time for Governor McKee to do his job. If there’s something preventing him from making these appointments, Rhode Islanders deserve to know about it.
My First Column for Pulse Magazine
In the first edition of my cannabis-focused column for Pulse Magazine, I took a look at a bunk “study” that didn’t include Worcester, Massachusetts in its list of top 50 cannabis cities in America. Here’s an excerpt:
Taking a look at the metrics used by this so-called study, it quickly becomes obvious why its findings were bunk. Some of the items that influence a city’s score include the amount of dispensary ratings and overall web traffic it provides to Leafly.com (one of the study’s partners, of course!) and how many Taco Bells it has per 100,000 residents (cringe).
While Worcester’s disappointing ratio of just 1.456 Taco Bells per 100,000 residents apparently puts us behind renowned culinary hotspots like Jacksonville and Salt Lake City, I think our city’s large number of locally owned restaurants that serve food that is actually edible is a slightly more important metric for cannabis-focused visitors to consider.
If you want to see what other mid-size American cities I insult, check out the full piece:
Also, some other content updates:
My recap of yesterday’s (very long) CCC meeting will be out this afternoon.
A new episode of Blunt Banter will be debuting on Youtube, LinkedIn and Twitch at 4:30pm.
Here’s the schedule I’m going to attempt to stick to in the future:
Tuesday: Column for paid subscribers
Wednesday: New episode of Blunt Banter
Friday: Weekly newsletter
Headlines
New England
EDITORIAL: STATES MUST ADDRESS DOWNSIDE OF LEGAL WEED (Boston Herald)
Legalizing marijuana has been touted as an economic opportunity, with an emphasis on promoting social equity and fiscal empowerment, especially for individuals affected by arrest and imprisonment for marijuana-related crimes.
On the financial front, it’s worked – the weed business in Massachusetts is a multi-billion-dollar enterprise.
But as communities who’ve given the high sign to weed have learned, there’s a downside – one that is all but ignored as more states mull cannabis legislation and Capitol Hill lawmakers work to grease the skids..
MY ANALYSIS: I’m not even going to provide a link to this drivel, but I must ask: Does anyone else find it weird that the Boston Herald editorial team writes more about cannabis than even I do? They really need to get some new material.
$21 MILLION WORTH OF LEGAL CANNABIS SOLD IN CONNECTICUT IN APRIL (NBC CONNECTICUT)
There were $21 million in sales of legal cannabis in Connecticut in April, according to the state Department of Consumer Protection. That is the combined sales of adult-use cannabis and medical marijuana, according to preliminary data. Of the $21 million, $11.4 million in sales was for medical marijuana and $10.2 million was for adult use.
MY ANALYSIS: Compare that to Massachusetts, where April saw $125.3M in adult use sales and $19.9M in medical.
Rest of U.S. / National
U.S. SENATE COMMITTEE HOLDS MARIJUANA BANKING HEARING (Kyle Jaeger | Marijuana Moment)
A key U.S. Senate committee convened on Thursday to discuss marijuana banking issues and bipartisan legislation that seeks to resolve the industry’s unique financial challenges.
Members of the Senate Banking Committee didn’t take any votes at the hearing, which was titled “Examining Cannabis Banking Challenges of Small Businesses and Workers,” but a focal point was the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act.
MY ANALYSIS: Would it hurt to have a single cannabis worker or small business owner testify at a hearing that was (supposedly) about the challenges that these groups face? I know Project SAM isn’t exactly a large organization, but I don’t think they qualify as a small cannabis business.
‘DISCONTENT AND DESPAIR’: NY CANNABIS ENTREPRENEURS FED UP WITH STATE’S PROBLEMATIC INDUSTRY ROLLOUT (Brad Racino | NY Cannabis Insider)
A group of Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary (CAURD) licensees have documented in a letter an “alarming and unacceptable” lack of communication and transparency among state cannabis regulators.
MY ANALYSIS: It’s hard to ignore complaints about New York’s regulatory scheme when they’re coming from the very people the program was designed to help. While their intentions are good, I think it’s fair to say that New York’s regulators have bitten off more than they can chew.
International
GERMAN OFFICIALS CIRCULATE DRAFT BILL FOR FIRST PART OF MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION PLAN AMONG CABINET MEMBERS (Kyle Jaeger | Marijuana Moment)
While the draft legislation is not yet publicly available, sources confirmed to RND that the proposal would allow adults to possess up to 25 grams of marijuana and grow up to three plants for personal use. It would also permit cannabis social clubs where growers could distribute cannabis products similar to those in Spain and Malta.
MY ANALYSIS: I’m not naive enough to believe that any country can roll out cannabis reforms without some bumps in the road, but it’s hard not to be excited that Germany is making a serious attempt at legalization without commercialization (unless you’re part of the #MSOgang).
THAILAND’S CANNABIS SELLERS SAY US GROWERS ARE EATING THEIR LUNCH (Vijitra Duangdee | Aljazeera)
Foreign brokers are approaching local dispensaries to hawk cheap, smuggled weed that is untaxed and then sold at two to five times its original price, according to local cannabis entrepreneurs.
“A decent locally grown strain goes for 300 baht [$9] per gram but imports are only 150-180 baht [$4.50-5.30] per gram,” Prajya Aura-ek, a cannabis entrepreneur with several licensed dispensaries in Bangkok, told Al Jazeera.
“Each day we have brokers, both Thais and other nationalities — this is definitely a multinational business — coming into our shops trying to sell us imported weed. But we turn them all down.”
MY ANALYSIS: We’re going to be discussing this on this week’s episode of Blunt Banter, but it’s pretty surprising to see American weed popping up in Thailand. A seed-to-sale tracking system and tighter regulations might help address this problem, but implementing those regulations would be a whole other issue.
Welcome Distraction
A new trailer dropped for Super Mega Baseball 4, the latest edition in this series of arcade-style baseball games that take place in a wacky, fictional universe. SMB4 will be the first game in the series to include actual real life baseball players of yesteryear, including former Red Sox slugger and current cannabis industry executive David Ortiz.
Cat of the Week
Barobu, who has an important message for you.
That’s a wrap on this issue. Thanks for reading! If you have any suggestions or feedback, let me know by replying to this email. Be sure to subscribe if you haven’t already, and if you can afford to support my work, please consider a paid subscription.