Like most states, Rhode Island’s framework for the regulation of CBD makes an important distinction between different types of CBD. While CBD with a high THC content can produce a psychoactive high and is consequently illegal within the state, CBD with very little THC is legal within much of the United States. For the most part, CBD derived from the industrial hemp plant is legal, whereas CBD from the marijuana hemp plant remains against the law.
Rhode Island boasts a litany of relatively progressive laws regarding medical marijuana. Medical marijuana was legalized in the state back in 2016, and since that time Rhode Island has done much to create a substantive framework for the legalization of marijuana for certain sufferers. Additionally, the state has decriminalized even recreational marijuana, which means that offenders violating the statutory law for the first time only face a small fine—no prison time.
Additionally, the state embraces the passage and implications of the 2014 Farm Bill, meaning that low-THC CBD can be purchased all over the state by any consumer, regardless of whether or not they have access to medical marijuana via a doctor’s recommendation.
Medical CBD in Rhode Island
CBD with a high THC content is only legal when purchased under Rhode Island’s medical marijuana law. Rhode Island has a list of qualifying conditions for which medical marijuana may be recommended, though the marijuana may only be recommended by a licensed physician. When these recommendations are made, patients are then able to pick up their medical marijuana from a variety of dispensaries all over the state.
This medical marijuana law applies to CBD derived from marijuana, as well. Consumers can purchase CBD with high THC content from medical dispensaries all over the state, so long as they have the permission of a medical professional to do so. CBD oil is incredibly popular, used to treat a variety of different conditions by patients. Medical studies for decades have shown the benefits of medical CBD to help treat different conditions, and new laws in Rhode Island have helped to bring this solution to the state’s constituents.
Low-THC CBD in Rhode Island
The Farm Bill legalized the industrial hemp industry in all fifty states, meaning that it is legal for consumers to purchase CBD products, provided that they are derived exclusively from the industrial hemp plant and contain a low THC content. These CBD products can be found all over the state, in convenience stores, smoke and head shops, and even in some gas stations.
