Cannabis Pilot Program
As its first pilot program, Co-op Rhody is supporting the development of 6 worker-owned cannabis dispensaries in Rhode Island.
Co-op Rhody was founded by veterans of the RI Cannabis Justice Coalition, who fought for a just and reparative cannabis legalization bill.
In 2022, thanks in large part to these efforts, Rhode Island passed one of the most progressive cannabis legalization laws in the country. In a move with no precedent in any other state or industry, the RI Cannabis Act created 6 retail licenses that can only be held by worker-owned cooperatives.
Today, through our pilot incubator program, we’re working to support the launch of these six worker-owned cannabis dispensaries through recruitment, capacity-building, and coordination.
We’re working for a RI cannabis industry where working-class, BIPOC, and formerly-incarcerated Rhode Islanders own a meaningful piece of the pie.
Why Cannabis?
Through the ongoing process of cannabis legalization, many States have prioritized social equity as an explicit goal informing policy design. However, BIPOC ownership, worker empowerment, and meaningful reparations for the communities most harmed by War on Drugs have remained largely unfulfilled promises of marijuana legalization. Today, less than 2% of cannabis businesses in the United States are owned or co-owned by Black individuals, and the first and only dispensary to be majority-owned and -operated by formerly-incarcerated individuals only opened in late 2023.
This industry is getting built NOW, and the window to shape its foundations won’t be open forever. We need to act quickly to make sure that cannabis workers actually get to build equity, wealth, and power by participating in this industry.
At Co-op Rhody, we believe that worker ownership is the best strategy to build the type of cannabis businesses that will reinvest in their communities and workers.