R.I. Senate won’t support legalizing marijuana in 2020

Marijuana legalization in Rhode Island appears dead in the state Senate for another year.

Senate President Dominick Ruggerio said Tuesday he doesn’t think the state’s medical marijuana program has been well-regulated and expanding legal access to the drug any further is a bad idea.

“No,” Ruggerio said in a State House interview Tuesday, when asked whether 2020 will be the year Rhode Island legalizes marijuana. “I want to see what is happening in Massachusetts. I am not crazy about the medical marijuana program in this state. I don’t think people have a handle on it. … If we can’t handle medical marijuana, there is no way we can enforce the laws for legalization.”

Gov. Gina Raimondo has said she plans to propose legalizing adult recreational use of the drug in her upcoming state budget — as she did a year ago, only to be denied by the General Assembly.

But Ruggerio said making it easier to get marijuana won’t help struggling Rhode Island schools improve.

“I think it will hurt young people. It will hurt education in this state, which we shouldn’t do because it is not in a good position as it is,” Ruggerio said. [Read more at Providence Journal]