The state's Cannabis Control Commission is looking to license a new compassion center in northern Rhode Island after plans for one in Woonsocket were scrapped.
The three-member commission has reopened applications for candidates who qualified to open the medical marijuana dispensaries in the original 2021 license application process, with submissions due September 18. The license is reserved for a business that opens in Zone 1, which includes Burrillville, Cumberland, Glocester, North Smithfield and Woonsocket. Smithfield is excluded, as voters in 2022 narrowly rejected allowing retail cannabis shops in town.
R.M.I. Compassion Center Inc. won the Zone 1 license in the fall 2021 lottery, with plans to open at Walnut Hill Plaza in Woonsocket by last summer, according to its website. R.M.I quickly faced pushback from local zoning officials, resulting in a court battle that R.M.I ultimately won.
But the center never opened and R.M.I. withdrew its application in January after failing to meet the state's licensing requirements in September 2024, according to a consent order from the Rhode Island Department of Business Regulation. Paul Isikwe, who is listed on state documents as the president of the business, did not immediately respond to request for comment.
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