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PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — Following the legalization of cannabis in the Ocean State back in 2022, communities have been working out best practices for rolling out where to put stores within cities.
A new proposed ordinance would set some clearer guidelines for that process and make sure that communities that were overly impacted by past criminalization can benefit from legalization.
The cannabis zoning ordinance passed its first reading Thursday night, 12 to 2, following a range of public meetings over the past few years.
The first pass includes a handful of guidelines, including what sort of businesses should be prioritized when giving licenses and just how many can be located within the cities specific zone.
The biggest goal is to highlight employee-owned locations and applicants that were disproportionately impacted by previous cannabis laws.
“This is for the future of our city, future of our kids, future of youth-people,” said Providence City Councilman Oscar Vargas.
“We make our own best knowledge decision to pick the right sort of area for this type of business.”
To keep students and youth safe, the ordinance includes language about businesses opening a minimum distance of 500 feet away from schools.
The Providence-specific zoning language allows up to four locations to open within the city-specific zone.
This is just a first pass on this ordinance, so it’s not been put in place yet, but bt will return to the city council for another vote on October 3rd.
