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.

The Fight for Cannabis Justice

Co-op Rhody was born out of a multi-year campaign to build a socially equitable and cooperative cannabis industry in Rhode Island. Beginning in 2021, activists from RI-based organizations including ReclaimRI, DARE (Direct Action for Rights and Equality), Break the Cycle Cooperative Hub, and UFCW Local 328 played leading roles in fighting for just and equitable legalization legislation. Many of the activists on the frontlines of this struggle came from disinvested communities, and personally experienced the injustices of racist drug enforcement policies. 

The RI Cannabis Act, which passed in May 2022, is one of the most progressive cannabis legalization bills in the country. It requires Labor Peace Agreements for all new cannabis businesses, provides automatic expungements for non-violent cannabis crimes, and reserves six out of 24 new retail licenses for worker-owned co-ops. 

Rhode Island’s adult-use cannabis retail market is projected to surpass $131 million in annual sales in 2024. The reservation of retail licenses for worker cooperatives creates an unprecedented opportunity: for a significant portion (6 out of 33 licenses, or about 18%) of a $130+ million industry to be financially-controlled and democratically-governed by historically marginalized workers. This environment creates a reservoir of demand for hands-on support for worker cooperative organizing. 

Here in Rhode Island, we have an unprecedented and historic opportunity to create a new business model template within the cannabis industry which doesn’t simply tack “equity” onto its structure as an afterthought, but actually bakes worker empowerment and community wealth-building into the design of the market itself.

Rhode Island’s 2022 Cannabis Act

The Rhode Island Cannabis Act:

Creates a Social Equity Fund, which will provide grants and fee waivers to social equity applicants, promote job training and workforce development, and administer programming for restorative justice and other rehabilitative programs

Creates 24 new retails licenses, of which 6 are reserved for social equity applicants, and another 6 are reserved for worker cooperatives

Requires all newly-licenses cannabis businesses to sign Labor Peace Agreements with a union, meaning that they cannot engage in union-busting activities

Offers automatic expungements for non-violent cannabis crimes