Delaware’s Office of the Marijuana Commissioner has received more than 1,260 adult-use cannabis business applications ahead of the September 30 deadline, the Delaware News Journal reports. The state made more than $4 million from application fees as open application fees cost $5,000, microbusiness fees run $3,000 and social equity fees cost $1,000.
The state will hold a lottery to deal out the licenses, the first round, for cultivation licenses, is set for October 24. The applications will first be reviewed by regulators.
More than half of the applications were for “Open Retailer” and social equity retail licenses. Open licenses are for anyone, anywhere in the state. Social equity applications are designated for communities disproportionately affected by past cannabis laws and are intended to benefit people with past cannabis-related convictions and people who have lived for at least five of the past 15 years in “disproportionately impacted areas.” The applicant or someone in their immediate family must also have a prior cannabis-related conviction.
A retail-only lottery is expected to take place in November or early December. Applicants that are selected in the lottery are given conditional licenses and then advance to a more rigorous second round. Applications from hopefuls that are not selected in the lottery will be kept if a second-round applicant is ultimately not awarded a license.
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