As some celebrate the unofficial 4/20 holiday, two separate bills in Delaware that would legalize recreational marijuana for adults are slated to move through the legislative process again.
The holiday is based on stories of teens in California smoking weed each day at 4:20 p.m. That morphed into smoke-ins on April 20th. The day spread nationwide, with a Rehoboth area taco truck today marking the occasion, minus weed.
Meanwhile, a coalition pushing for legislation sounded an alarm on a measure proposed by state officials to sharply increase the cost of marijuana sales licenses.
HB 371 removes the penalties for adults’ possession of up to an ounce of cannabis, and HB 372 legalizes and regulates an adult-use cannabis market. The bills will get separate consideration.
HB 371, which requires a simple majority to pass, needs to be reheard in the House Health and Human Development Committee when the session reconvenes in May.
During her comments earlier in the week before a committee, Delaware Cannabis Advocacy Network Executive Director Zoë Patchell said HB 372 would eliminate public safety and public health issues that come with widespread illegal use.
Marijuana use widespread
“HB 372 does not create a new market; but rather, it is common sense policy written to address the inherent harms to consumers, providers, and communities throughout Delaware, that are caused by cannabis prohibition, a policy that allows a billion-dollar industry to operate entirely on the illicit market,” Patchell said.
Patchell said data from a 2021 SAMHSA report shows that approximately 18% or 150,000 Delaware adults admit to consuming cannabis in an annual self-reporting survey.
Polls conducted by the University of Delaware show 61% of Delawareans support legalization.
A release from the advocacy network noted that no member of the public opposed the legislation at the hearing.
The advocacy network also noted that taxpayer-funded state agencies, including the Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS), the Department of Finance, and the Department of Agriculture, spoke out against HB 372 as it is currently written.
State seeks big license fee hike
Chief Policy Advisor for DHSS and representative of the Carney Administration, Kiki Evinger, proposed a major change to the bill during the committee hearing regarding a drastic increase in the cost of an adult-use cannabis license.
Advocates say the license increase would threaten the success of the legal market and boost the illegal market. It would also give “corporate marijuana” a leg up by limiting the number of smaller businesses that could sell weed.
The bills’ usual opponents, AAA, the medical community, and some in law enforcement have been muted in their criticism. Instead, lobbyists from medical marijuana companies already in operation have pressed for more favorable treatment. For example, House bill 372 calls for some licenses to go to smaller businesses and not bar applicants convicted of non-violent weed possession offenses.
High taxes have been cited as one reason for the illegal marijuana trade thriving in California – to the point that violent Mexican cartels are illegally growing the weed – sometimes on public land.
Alcohol sales licenses don’t come with hefty fees
“Increasing the cost of an adult-use cannabis business license is not consistent with the cost of licenses for alcohol businesses,” Patchell said. “This would create a costly, unnecessary barrier to entry that would prevent some Delaware small business entrepreneurs from being able to participate in the legal market.”
“The increase in cost would only be passed off to consumers, which would increase the cost of legal cannabis, like what is currently happening with the medical cannabis market here in Delaware,” Patchell stated. “The legal cannabis market has to be affordable and competitive with the current illicit market, as well as other legal states for this to be successful.”
New Jersey will begin adult-use cannabis sales this Thursday, the day after the cannabis-themed holiday. Voters in the Garden State passed legalization through a ballot initiative in 2020. Delaware does not have the initiative in its Constitution.
