With less than a week until Delaware’s legislative session wraps up for the year, a bill to fully legalize marijuana could still pass.
The bill, H.B. 110, would permit adults over 21 to use, transport and possess up to one ounce of cannabis, as well as five grams of concentrates, for personal use. It wouldn’t allow individuals to grow their own plants, but it would establish a recreational marijuana retail system statewide.
A majority of Delaware voters (61 percent, according to a 2016 University of Delaware poll) support marijuana legalization, but the prospect of the bill’s passage remains uncertain. As currently written, 25 out of 41 representatives would have to approve the legislation—and insiders in the state capitol in Dover tell Marijuana Moment they’re not sure the votes are there.
But while many observers had crossed Delaware off the list of states that could legalize marijuana in 2018 weeks ago, Rep. Helene Keeley (D), the chief sponsor of the bill, added a comprehensive amendment last week that advocates believe gives the proposal a shot to pass before the legislative deadline.
The revised bill would set aside 20 percent of tax revenue collected from retail marijuana sales to fund substance abuse treatment programs, invest in seed-to-sale tracking and bar product packaging that might appeal to children. It would also remove three criminal penalties, which lowered the vote threshold to 60 percent because state law requires a two-thirds supermajority to pass any bill that includes criminal penalties.