Rhode Island regulators have awarded the state’s first commercial medical cannabis grow licenses to three companies in the city of Warwick: Medici Products & Solutions, OSCC and Evergreen Gardens.
The newly licensed cultivators will be allowed to sell medical marijuana to the state’s three existing dispensaries. Those dispensaries are all vertically integrated but still buy about 40%-60% from other growers, the Providence Journal reported.
Last year, however, regulators adopted a law prohibiting the more than 2,800 caregivers in the Rhode Island from selling product to dispensaries because of fears some of that product was entering the illicit market. To avert a product shortfall, regulators then adopted regulations creating the new grow licenses.
Regulators have approved the applications of four more cultivation companies, but they must pass inspections before receiving their licenses. Warwick is home to two of those companies, IDBP and Dirtworx, while West Warwick is home to two others, GrowingGreen RI and Best Buds Nursery.
Another six grow license applications have been filed but not reviewed, while one regulator estimated the state could receive at least another dozen applications in the next two weeks. Rhode Island is accepting applications until April, the Providence Journal reported.