The Rhode Island Legislature on Tuesday voted to legalize hashish for grownup use, shifting it to Gov. Dan McKee (D) who is anticipated to signal the invoice immediately, the Providence Journal reviews. The measure handed the Home 55-16 and the Senate 32-6.
Senate Majority Chief Michael McCaffrey (D) known as the invoice’s passage “a very momentous day for Rhode Island.”
“Ending hashish prohibition helps us proper previous wrongs whereas creating new alternatives for all Rhode Islanders. That is the suitable transfer, on the proper time, for our state.” – McCaffrey by way of the Journal
Beneath the invoice, adults 21-and-older can buy and possess as much as an oz. of hashish and hold 10 ounces at residence for private use. Adults may also domesticate as much as six crops at residence, together with three mature and three immature crops. The state would license 33 retailers throughout six zones and impose a ten% excise tax, together with the state’s 7% gross sales tax, and a 3% tax which might go to municipalities.
The laws additionally contains computerized expungement provisions, giving the courts till July 1, 2024, to offer reduction to all which might be eligible. Any prior civil violation, misdemeanor, or felony conviction for hashish possession that’s now authorized beneath the legislation could be robotically erased from courtroom document methods beneath the prison justice reforms.
As soon as signed by McKee, authorized hashish gross sales might begin by December 1 and it’s possible the state’s present medical hashish companies could be the state’s first retailers. If the invoice is given ultimate approval by the governor, Rhode Island will change into the nineteenth state to permit grownup hashish use and controlled hashish gross sales.
Get each day hashish enterprise information updates. Subscribe