The state Office of Cannabis Regulation, which is spearheading the effort to add six new medical cannabis dispensaries in Rhode Island, has a new chief, Matthew Santacroce, a former policy director for Gov. Gina Raimondo.
Santacroce, who left the Raimondo administration in 2018 and most recently worked at The Policy Lab, a collaborative think tank run by Brown University, began his new job in cannabis regulation just weeks ago.
He will direct the eight-member cannabis regulation office created a few years ago to reform and better regulate the state’s medical cannabis program.
Under the leadership of Santacroce’s predecessor, Norman Birenbaum, cannabis regulators created a system of state-licensed cultivators who supply much of the cannabis now sold at the state’s existing three dispensaries. The regulators also implemented new regulations on testing and packaging and standardized dosage.
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