“It’s the last thing I want to happen in the Rhode Island market,” said Edward Dow, chief executive of Solar Therapeutics, which has three dispensaries in Massachusetts and one in Rhode Island. “Don’t do what Massachusetts and every other state has done.”

Business owners who applied for Rhode Island’s 24 retail licenses last year are outraged by the potential about-face, arguing that should have been raised before they shelled out tens of thousands of dollars each to secure premises, hire lawyers, and pay nonrefundable application fees to the state.

“Massachusetts is light-years ahead of us,” said Karen Ballou, who has applied to open a store on Main Street in Richmond. She noted Massachusetts, which has hundreds of stores open, is now considering social consumption lounges. “They’re going to be rolling that out, and we still don’t have retail stores.”

Ballou said she’s been paying $6,000 a month in rent on the Richmond property since September, and estimated she’s spent at least $50,000 on legal, architectural, and other costs. The state required potential cannabis retailers to have a fully executed lease and zoning certificate before applying for a lottery for one of the 24 licenses. The deadline to apply was Dec. 29.

“We knew that it was a gamble,” Ballou said. But nearly four years since legalization, she asked: “Why isn’t the process moving faster?”

Michelle Reddish, the administrator of Rhode Island’s cannabis office, declined repeated requests for an interview about the upcoming lottery. Spokesperson Charon Rose said the state is aiming to hold it in June, but first has to finish reviewing applications and contend with other factors, including three federal lawsuits challenging a requirement stores be owned by Rhode Island residents.

Rose said no decision has been made on how many licenses will be issued at the lottery.

The Cannabis Control Commission is considering a phased-in approach, prompting alarm among those who already applied under the assumption that all 24 retail licenses are in play.

“You can regret the rules that you set, you can wish that you made them different, you can change them for the next round, but you can’t move the goal posts after the game is over,” said David Rozen, who applied to open a dispensary in an old Pizza Hut on Reservoir Avenue in Cranston.

The new stores could reshape Rhode Island’s cannabis market. The original medical dispensaries were large facilities relegated mostly to industrial zones, far from the foot traffic of neighborhoods or busy commercial hubs.

Now, under more permissive zoning and changing attitudes toward cannabis, smaller stores could open on busy commercial strips such as Thames Street in Newport or in downtown Providence. They could squeeze in next to a bakery or yoga studio, becoming part of the fabric of everyday life.

There are eight dispensaries currently selling recreational cannabis in Rhode Island after lawmakers in 2022 allowed existing medical marijuana centers to get a hybrid license to sell recreational pot as a transitional measure until the Cannabis Control Commission could get up and running. They sold a combined $120 million worth of cannabis last year.

But new retailers were always the plan. They include special “social equity” licenses set aside for applicants who were disproportionately affected by marijuana prohibition, as well as for worker cooperatives. The law also set a cap of four stores in each of six geographic zones. (Just 6 of 33 Rhode Island municipalities ban cannabis stores.)

Ambrose Dwyer told the Globe he “got arrested for a joint” in 1982, and again in 1991, felony convictions that ultimately destroyed his life, he said. He wants to open in a former dry cleaning business on Chalkstone Avenue in Providence under the social equity license.

“They’re scared of competition,” Dwyer said of the existing eight dispensaries. “They’ve got a monopoly, and they’ve got their prices through the roof.”

With far fewer stores per capita, Rhode Island prices are higher than Massachusetts, at $5.67 per gram compared to $4.17 per gram in Massachusetts, according to the cannabis commission.

As prices drop, some stores in Massachusetts have been closing.

“They should not allow dispensaries on top of dispensaries on top of dispensaries,” said Joe Pakuris, who owns the Mother Earth Wellness dispensary in Pawtucket, which is about 2.5 miles from the only one in Providence, the Slater Center, which opened in 2013.

Pakuris said rather than 24 licenses, the state should issue six to eight, and focus on areas that don’t have any stores, such as southern Rhode Island and the northwest corner of the state.

But a majority of applicants are concentrated around Providence and Newport, according to a Globe review of the submissions. In the northwest zone, where four licenses are available, only two applied.

The list of 97 applicants will likely be whittled down before the lottery. Around a dozen did not get zoning approvals by a March 2 deadline, and others could fail to meet requirements.

At most, the commission will issue 20 licenses, because not every license type received an application in each of the six geographic zones.

The state’s 57 cultivators who grow cannabis are also desperate for more stores. They cannot sell directly to consumers or to stores in other states, and many of the current dispensaries in Rhode Island also grow their own product.

“We can’t wait,” said Allan Fung, a former Cranston mayor and lawyer who is representing multiple retail applicants and cultivators. “We’re asking to have the CCC conduct the lottery as soon as possible, granting all of the licenses at the same time, and not having a phased-in approach.”

The commission, meanwhile, is down to two members after chair Kim Ahern left in October to run for attorney general. Governor Dan McKee has not nominated a replacement, and his office did not have an update this past week.

Robert Jacquard, one of the two remaining members, said he does not yet know how he will vote on the number of retail licenses.

“I’m keeping an open mind,” Jacquard said.

The other commissioner, Layi Oduyingbo, did not respond to requests for comment.

Marc Gertsacov, who wants to open a store on the first floor of the Merchants Bank building in Providence, said he, too, was “frustrated” by the delays and deliberation.

“I think that the state should let the market decide how much is too much,” Gertsacov said.

If selected, Gertsacov said he could open in a month or two. He picked the location because it could benefit from the foot traffic of tourists, college students, and workers in the city’s financial district who — for the first time in downtown Providence — could stop by after their 9-to-5.

“It’s a different version of a happy hour,” he said.

Steph Machado can be reached at steph.machado@globe.com. Follow her @StephMachado.