Delaware

The Delaware Office of the Marijuana Commissioner has awarded the state’s first 15 adult-use dispensary licenses. The winners were selected by lottery from a pool of 529 applicants.

The National Hemp Association was awarded $19.6 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to monitor the impact of hemp cultivation in the Chesapeake Bay. The grant was awarded as part of the USDA’s Regional Conservation Partnership Program.

Delaware cannabis regulators have received more than 1,260 adult-use cannabis business applications ahead of the state’s September 30 deadline.

Delaware officials will begin accepting adult-use cannabis license applications next week for the licensing lottery set to take place in October.

Delaware is earmarking $6.2 million in funding for social-equity cannabis industry applicants, including $4.2 million from industry application fees and an additional $2 million allocated by state lawmakers.

Delaware cannabis officials have warned that out-of-state entities are looking to scam potential social equity applicants by contacting them and trying to deceive them into helping pay for an adult-use cannabis license.

Delaware lawmakers recently passed legislation establishing protections for banks and other financial institutions to work with state-legal cannabis companies as the state prepares to launch its adult-use market.

A key Delaware House committee has advanced a proposal to allow early adult-use cannabis sales by letting medical dispensaries service adult-use customers; some industry advocates say the move would be giving certain businesses an unfair advantage.

Delaware lawmakers have approved a bill allowing healthcare providers to certify any patients for the medical cannabis program; the provisions also allow individuals aged 65+ to self-certify for the program.

Delaware lawmakers voted in committee on Tuesday to set a $4.1 million initial budget for rolling out the state’s adult-use cannabis industry.

Adult-use cannabis is now legal in Delaware after Gov. John Carney (D) allowed the state’s legalization proposals to become law without his signature on Sunday.

The Delaware Senate passed House-approved adult-use cannabis legalization bills yesterday, sending the legislation to Gov. John Carney (D) who vetoed a similar legalization measure last summer.

Two days after voting to legalize cannabis for adults, the Delaware House of Representatives passed a bill that would create an adult-use cannabis marketplace.

Delaware’s House of Representatives passed legislation this week that would eliminate penalties for the use or possession of cannabis by adults.

Delaware lawmakers this week failed to override Gov. John Carney’s recent veto of the state’s cannabis legalization bill.

Delaware Gov. John Carney (D) has vetoed his state’s cannabis legalization bill stating he doesn’t believe in “promoting or expanding the use of recreational marijuana.”

Delaware’s bill to tax and regulate adult-use cannabis failed by two votes in the House while the decriminalization bill sits on Gov. John Carney’s (D) desk.

Delaware Gov. John Carney (D) expressed support this week for the cannabis decriminalization bill recently passed by state lawmakers but didn’t say if he intends to sign the legislation.

Delaware lawmakers approved a bill to legalize cannabis possession but stopped short of establishing regulated sales; the bill now goes to Gov. John Carney (D), who remains opposed to legalization and has not yet revealed whether he will sign.

A Delaware proposal to legalize adult-use cannabis passed the House Health & Human Development Committee and moves next to the Appropriations Committee.

Delaware’s new cannabis legalization bill would drop a proposed social equity fund, opting instead for a “Justice Reinvestment Fund,” which would provide direct aid to those communities most negatively affected by prohibition.

The Delaware Supreme Court last week ruled that cannabis odor during a traffic stop by itself is not enough to trigger probable cause for arrest.