Hasib Ikramullah

We're proud to celebrate this exciting milestone for Tropical Foods and the transition to employee ownership. Tropical Foods has long been an important community institution in Roxbury, and we're thrilled to see its employees become owners of the business they've helped build. Congratulations to Tropical Foods and to Apis & Heritage Capital Partners for helping make this vision a reality. At Madison Park Development Corporation, we're grateful to work alongside partners who are committed to community wealth-building, local economic opportunity, and long-term neighborhood investment. We're proud to support, and be supported by, organizations like Tropical Foods and Apis & Heritage Capital Partners as we continue advancing opportunities for Roxbury residents and the broader community.

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Rhode Island Officials Support Ban On Serving Hemp THC Drinks In Bars And Restaurants With Liquor Licenses （1） “All retailers selling intoxicating hemp products should be held to similar high safety standards as cannabis retailers.” By Christopher Shea, Rhode Island Currant For a year, Rhode Island bars and restaurants had the opportunity to secure a license from the state’s former Office of Cannabis Regulation to sell intoxicating THC-infused beverages despite state regulations that prohibit them from being combined with alcohol, tobacco or nicotine. Over 100 licensed retailers obtained a license between August 2024 and July 2025 when the Cannabis Control Commission put the brakes on issuing any new licenses to establishments that allow onsite consumption of alcohol in “furtherance of public health and safety.” Now as regulators race to codify rules to catch up with the marketplace, the association representing the state’s hospitality industry is voicing strong opposition to the commission’s recommendation that lawmakers codify a ban on the sale of THC drinks at venues with a liquor license. “They’re assuming we’re not going to follow the law,” Farouk Rajab, president and CEO of the Rhode Island Hospitality Association, said in an interview Monday. Rajab said he was disappointed to see the commission recommend a ban in its final report submitted to the General Assembly on March 1. But he was not shocked that it still made the cut. “I think decisions are already made even before the listening sessions,” he said. “This is targeting an industry, that’s all.” The 11-page report details Rhode Island’s existing rules governing hemp-derived beverages, along with recommendations over labeling, testing and taxing the products. Carla Aveledo, chief of policy for the commission, said no one single industry was being targeted. “All retailers selling intoxicating hemp products should be held to similar high safety standards as cannabis retailers,” she said. Hemp became legal at the federal level after the passage of the 2018 Farm Bill, with drinks hitting the market in Rhode Island as regulators were crafting rules for awarding licenses for retail cannabis establishments. Regulations allowing the drinks sale were approved by the former Office of Cannabis Regulation in 2024, rules that have since been adopted by the state’s Cannabis Office. But the proliferation of hemp-derived THC drinks led to a debate on whether they should even be legal at all in Rhode Island. Members of the state’s recreational cannabis industry have been largely opposed to allowing THC products to be sold outside the few existing licensed pot shops. Which is why the General Assembly last year tasked the Cannabis Control Commission to come up with suggestions on how to deal with hemp-derived drinks, most of which are produced out-of-state.

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