Delaware lawmakers approve marijuana regulation funding

DOVER, Del. – Delaware lawmakers have approved regulatory funding for marijuana purchases, but it will likely be a while before recreational dispensaries are open for business.

Last month, legislation making Delaware the latest state to legalize and regulate adult recreational marijuana became law. The two-bill package regulates and taxes marijuana in the same manner as alcohol.

On Tuesday, lawmakers in the Joint Finance Committee (JFC) approved $4.1 million to get the new industry off the ground. The funding will establish the regulatory infrastructure needed within state government to begin the process. Of that, $2.2 million is expected to be ongoing, recurring funding, with $1.9 million in one-time costs.

Under the new laws, the Division of Alcohol and Tobacco Enforcement (DATE) will absorb marijuana enforcement and create a separate, administrative office of the Marijuana Control Commissioner within the Department of Safety and Homeland Security.

Governor John Carney has yet to name a Marijuana Control Commissioner and will have to do so before the deadline later this year on September 29, 2023.

Once a commissioner has been appointed, it will be their job to ensure the regulations are adopted appropriately prior to the deadline to administer recreational licensing on July 1, 2024.

Delaware State Rep. Ed Osienski, who championed the bills in the state legislature, tells us it could be a little while before legal sales start as the regulatory process will be multifaceted.

“You’ve got to do the cultivation first, they have to grow the flower, the flower then can be transferred to a manufacturing facility that would create the edibles or oils,” Rep. Osienski said. “Then of course the last thing is the retail and the testing facilities to make sure everything is tested before it goes to the retail facilities and then they can sell it to the public.”

The Marijuana Control Commissioner will have to begin issuing the 30 retail and 5 testing licenses no later than February 1, 2025. This is just a deadline requirement in the regulatory framework of the legislation, meaning that it could happen sooner but no later than that date.

“Things could move a little faster,” Rep. Osienski emphasized. “These are deadlines, so things can move a little faster, but again it hinges on the Governor appointing a commissioner and then the commissioner has quite a task to get the regulations and process of getting these applications out, reviewing them, and then approving them and issuing licenses.”

The vote to approve the funding took place during markup, a period when the JFC takes the governor’s recommended budget and begins voting on specific funding requests, essentially writing the budget. The Joint Finance Committee will continue reviewing and voting on funding priorities for the fiscal 2023 operating budget this week.

Once completed, legislative budget staff will write the final budget bill, which must be approved by the entire General Assembly before the end of session on July 1, 2023.

Currently, recreational marijuana use is permitted in 22 states and the District of Columbia. Nearby states Maryland, New Jersey, Virginia and New York also have legalized adult recreational marijuana.