PROVIDENCE – The R.I. Department of Health on Friday rejected all 15 applications it had received for medical marijuana dispensaries or “compassion centers,” saying that nine failed to meet a minimum score and the other six were disqualified for other reasons – several of them for exceeding a page limit.
“We’re very frustrated that we weren’t able to issue a single license,” Dr. David R. Gifford, the state health director, said in an interview. “This was the last thing we wanted to resort to.”
But officials had no choice, Gifford said, because they were intent on ensuring that any dispensary they licensed was safe, properly run and financially sound, and that any successful applicant had properly completed the review process.
Already, the department had postponed its decision by almost two months, missing its self-imposed July 21 deadline because it was overwhelmed by the “larger than anticipated number of applicants and the volume of material submitted,” as Gifford put it at the time.
With a maximum of three licenses to be issued, and major investments at stake – though all entities are nonprofits – the process also got very cutthroat, Gifford said.
“All of them were very much competing with each other,” he said. “I was getting a lot of letters from legal counsel for different applicants pointing out flaws in other applications.”
In a news release, the department said it had received eight formal letters of concern “alleging that some applications were not consistent with the requirements set forth either in the application’s instructions or in the regulations,” including the page limit.
“Other complaints raised issues about zoning requirements, site control, financing issues, and residency requirements,” the release noted. “Upon a second review of the applications, [the department] found that some of these complaints had merit.”
Since no licenses could be issued, a new request for proposals will be issued in early October. All 15 applicants will get their $250 application fees back.
The news release says the new application “will clearly require applicants to document their nonprofit status” and will not include page limits, but Gifford said it will still have page limits, but with clearer language to ensure applicants understand them.
This is the first time the state has licensed medical marijuana dispensaries, Gifford stressed, so it’s been particularly challenging.
“This was a whole new process, and a very contentious and high-profile process,” he said.
Asked whether supporters of medical marijuana – who fought for dispensaries because many patients can’t grow their own and don’t have safe, legal sources from which to buy it – have expressed frustration with the licensing process, Gifford acknowledged that they have.
“We’ve definitely heard complaints from some of the advocates and some of the individuals in the program,” he said. “But I also don’t want to rush the process, and end up with a compassion center that isn’t going to serve the public well, or is going to go out of business.”
State Sen. Rhoda Perry, D-Providence, one of the sponsors of the legislation that legalized medical marijuana and of the follow-up bill that created dispensaries, said she wasn’t surprised by the outcome because she had been hearing about problems for several days.
Still, she said, “I’m concerned. I’m disappointed. I don’t understand why the state of Maine was able to handle this very efficiently and very effectively – their process is already done, isn’t it? – and we couldn’t.”
Neighbors and government officials in some communities where dispensaries have been proposed have also tried to block the projects, but Perry said she “hadn’t seen it as a major impediment,” because the law is “very, very strong” in terms of safety measures that must be taken.
The applications are posted at www.health.ri.gov.
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