In 2022, the State of Rhode Island legalized recreational cannabis and allowed for 24 retail licenses. Of those, 6 are reserved for Social Equity Applicants who have been impacted by the war on drugs.

Given how the law is written, however, there is room for exploitation as there is a loophole that would allow Jeff Bezos or any other high net worth individual to take advantage of those licenses (dubbed as the 'slave master's clause' in states' like Connecticut and Illinois).

House Bill #7855 would close these loopholes and help establish cannabis justice by mandating that anyone who takes advantage of those loopholes pay a $500,000 fee to the Social Equity Assistance Fund. It would also allocate cannabis taxes into a separate fund to support public education, public housing, and health outcomes in the same communities that suffered from the harms of cannabis criminalization.