Cannabis in Rhode Island is a $167 million dollar industry, but only a handful are seeing the rewards.
Existing RI retailers sold almost $40 million dollars worth of products since the State closed applications for additional retail licenses in December. However, that process was suddenly interrupted by multiple lawsuits claiming the State’s residency requirements for retail licenses are discriminatory. Despite the legal setback, dozens of applicants are hoping to bring new cannabis retailers to communities across Providence.
Planting Cannabis in Providence
At 1205 Westminster, a brick building looks out at a busy intersection with a liquor store, an auto repair shop, a diner and a busy fruit stand. The building contains a chiropractor and a gym, but it could be the future home of PVD Flowers, a workers cooperative of Providence residents who want to sell cannabis to their neighbors.
“Price and THC potency aren’t the only things we should be looking at when you’re shopping. We want to help people find products that are going to add to their lives,” said Sarah Buller, a co-owner of PVD Flowers. “My biggest complaint of every industry is that corporate consolidation of it makes it worse. It makes the products worse and makes the customer experience worse.”
Since cannabis was legalized in 2022, the State has only allowed nine retail licenses. By comparison, Massachusetts legalized cannabis in 2018 and has over 600 retailers across the state. Only one dispensary operates in Providence—the Thomas C. Slater Compassion Center owned by Gerry McGraw, whose wife Liz, aka the “Cannabis Queen,” stars on the Real Housewives of Rhode Island. Six of the existing retailers are licensed to both grow and sell cannabis, leaving other industry hopefuls out of the spotlight.
“Currently, the oligopoly in Rhode Island is not buying so much from the growers here in the state,” said Asher Schofield, who applied to start a worker’s cooperative called Rhode Island Raised. “It’s been choking the growers in Rhode Island who have been waiting for retail licenses to be issued to retailers that are not vertically integrated.”
There are 58 licensed commercial cultivators in the state, but the small number of retailers limits the market for local products. The RI Cannabis Control Commission planned to release 24 new retail licenses via lottery across six state zones. Each area allows four licenses, and of those four, one is reserved for a cooperatively-owned business and another is reserved for social equity applicants.
“The War on Drugs affected people of color… So having the opportunity to participate in the industry where individuals have been disproportionately impacted is great,” said Chris Fevry, who applied for a social equity license with his friends Rodney and Norris to form RCN LLC. “That’s what it’s really all about. It’s about making sure there’s representation in the industry and creating a company from the community.”
Providence is in Zone 2, along with Central Falls, Johnston, Lincoln and North Providence, but 80% of the zone’s applications are proposing addresses in the Capital. Buller, Schofield and Fevry said it was difficult to find property that met the CCC’s regulations, especially locations more than 500 feet away from a school with the proper zoning. Schofield even worked with a property owner to divide their proposed site on Allens Avenue to get far enough away from the Meeting Street School.
“So all that’s been really cool, except for the part where the State of Rhode Island comes into play,” said Schofield. “They have been siphoning off liquidity of the applicants month by month.”
Blocking Cannabis Licenses
The CCC planned to select licenses through the lottery as soon as May 2026, but the process was put on pause in April. A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction blocking regulators from even reviewing applications after Rhode Island was sued by multiple out-of-state business entrepreneurs. They claimed the requirement that retailers be in-state residents was discriminatory.
Without a clear resolution in sight, applicants are stuck on the hook with loans, leases and contracts to fulfill. RCN started paying rent on their space on Branch Avenue in December.
“They demanded your application needed to be in on [December 29, 2025] or you’re not going to be considered,” said Fevry. “And then now they say, ‘Just kidding, now the lottery’s delayed.’ Like, that’s just not right.”
The CCC filed an appeal against the injunction, but the license lottery is still in limbo. Some applicants want the residency requirement removed, simply to expedite the process.
“That would be the fastest path to awarding the licenses, but we don’t know what’s going to happen,” said Buller. “They haven’t really given us much of an indication of what direction they’re heading in.”
Fevry said the price is not just impacting prospective retailers, but Rhode Islanders facing higher prices with fewer shopping options. In the first three months of 2026, the average price of a gram of weed was $4.04 in Massachusetts but $7.69 in Rhode Island.
“They’re crossing the border into Fall River, Attleboro, Seekonk and buying cheaper priced cannabis over there, which is resulting in Rhode Island receiving less tax revenue,” said Fevry. “The biggest thing Rhode Island can do, especially the Cannabis Control Commission, is making sure that they are expediting in the stage, because this is a sensitive stage where a lot of people don’t make it through the entire process.”
The CCC’s next meeting is scheduled for May 22 at 1:00 p.m. Aspiring cannabis retailers will be watching and waiting to change the local cannabis industry.
“Our focus on providing care to the community is going to be our most important thing about us that kind of differentiates us from other bigger companies in the market,” said Buller. “When you’re buying weed from people who live and work in the same communities as the customers, it’s going to be more of like a feeling of we are in this together.”
[CORRECTION: The next CCC has been rescheduled since the time of publication. The date has been updated to reflect this change.]
Eric Halvarson is a City News Reporter for The Providence Eye.
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