Cobblestone Press: Legalizing Marijuana in Rhode Island

According to a recent study by the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, Rhode Island consumes more marijuana per capita than any other state in the U.S. 

According to the study, 13 percent of Rhode Islanders (age 12 and up) have smoked marijuana in the past month, which is nearly four percent more than neighboring states Massachusetts and Connecticut. 

So, using the Colorado model, it would appear that Rhode Island would stand to significantly benefit from legalizing, regulating, and taxing the sale of marijuana.  According to Jared Moffat, the Director of Regulate Rhode Island, the Ocean State would also benefit from the creation of new jobs to service a legalized cannabis market.  Colorado created 11,000 jobs in the six months that they adopted legalized marijuana sales.

Moffat joined Kevin Aherne on this week's Cobblestone Press to discus  what legalized marijuana would mean to Rhode Islanders. Listen to what he had to say:

Cobblestone Press: Episode 3

Listen to the whole episode here

---

About Regulate Rhode Island

Founded in 2013, Regulate Rhode Island is a nonprofit organization and a coalition of citizens and organizations committed to ending the costly and destructive policy of marijuana prohibition. Led by Director Jared Moffat, Regulate Rhode Island relies on hundreds of volunteer advocates and dozens of member organizations to advance our cause. They work closely with lawmakers, especially Senator Joshua Miller from Cranston and Representative Edith Ajello from Providence, and Marijuana Policy Project, a national reform organization, to build support for Rhode Island's Marijuana Regulation, Control, and Taxation Act, which would end marijuana prohibition and establish guidelines to create a system to regulate and tax marijuana similarly to alcohol. 

---

More WBOB Reads

• New RI License Plates Aim to Protect First Responders
  
• HEALTH Releases Information Related to Bodies Found in Johnston Storage Unit
  
• Gardiner: 28 Days Before
  
• Dee DeQuattro: Pulse on Politics - August 15
  
• Doyle: Send in the Clowns