A bill legalizing the adult use of cannabis in Delaware is lined up to be introduced when the General Assembly reconvenes in January, the News Journal reports. The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Margaret Rose Henry, who also penned the state’s medical marijuana legislation, indicated that the legalization legislation has been sent to lawyers for review and she has already started courting sponsors.
“It’s certainly being considered. It’s going to be an uphill battle,” she said in the report. “But it’s time, quite frankly. It’s time to certainly look at it.”
A regulated cannabis market in the state could generate about $21 million, according to a Marijuana Policy Project analysis. Henry, the Senate majority whip, said that figure fails to take sales into account and that the revenues could be used to fund public programs for seniors and education. Henry said that her sponsorship of the bill could reduce her reelection chances and that the measure will be a legislative fight, but she is still going to push for its approval.
Republican State Sen. Colin Bonini, who is running against Democratic State Rep. John Carney for governor, said he would support a legalization bill; while Carney has said the state should see how the recently passed decriminalization law plays out before considering legalization.