The Rhode Island Department of Health has selected the three applicants who will be authorized to manage the state-regulated medical marijuana dispensaries where licensed patients will be able to purchase marijuana of a predictable quality in a safe environment. According to the Providence Journal,
The selections Tuesday were made from among 18 applicants which proposed dispensary operations of various sizes, mostly in the metropolitan area, to serve the state’s growing number of state-licensed medical marijuana users who now must either grow the marijuana themselves or connect with a licensed individual grower or caregiver.
Geography was one consideration. The three selected are; Summit Medical Compassion Center in Warwick, The Thomas C. Slater Compassion Center in Providence, and Greenleaf Compassionate Care Center in Portsmouth. Let’s not forget the hard work performed over the years by the Rhode Island Patient Advocacy Coalition (RIPAC) and its founder Jesse Stout (now away at law school), who organized patients, testified before innumerable committees, educated the public, and pretty much willed these dispensaries into existence. He would insist on sharing the credit with those legislators who persevered and showed such political courage throughout — in particular bill sponsor Rhoda Perry, D-Providence, and the late Thomas C. Slater the Providence democrat for whom the bill (and one of the dispensaries) is named.