§ 21-28.6-4 Protections for the medical use of marijuana. – (a) A qualifying patient who has in his or her possession a registry identification card shall not be subject to arrest, prosecution, or penalty in any manner, or denied any right or privilege, including but not limited to, civil penalty or disciplinary action by a business or occupational or professional licensing board or bureau, for the medical use of marijuana; provided, that the qualifying patient possesses an amount of marijuana that does not exceed twelve (12) mature marijuana plants and two and one-half (2.5) ounces of usable marijuana. Said plants shall be stored in an indoor facility.
I never know what to make of it when they put "SHALL." It's a weaselly lawyer word in my opinion. When it comes to handgun permits in Rhode Island, we are a "SHALL ISSUE" state. That means if you as an individual wish to protect yourself, your family, your home, place of business, etc., and you apply for a permit, the City "shall issue" it to you! But that's never how it works. The Chiefs in many of the towns summarily deny individual applications for permits all the time, and most of the time they provide no valid lawful reason. Shall we? Sorry, no. We shan't.
R.I. shall issue ccw permits, but they dont. Individuals shall grow indoors, but sometimes we like to be environmentally conscious and use the sun rather than carbon fuels! And if you have the plants fenced off screened from plain view in a secure area, they can't get you unless you answer your door and say "Sure c'mon in, I'm in a waive-my-rights kinda mood today."
If we could get the law changed to say "private facility" then that would help our case a lot. Or "on private property, in a contained area out of plain view." Let's all run for RI State Rep!