As of April 14, two cannabis bills have officially been sent to the desk of Delaware Gov. John Carney. House Bill 1 legalizes small amounts of cannabis for personal use, and House Bill 2 establishes regulations for cultivation and sales. Both combined make up the Delaware Marijuana Control Act.

According to the Delaware State Constitution, the governor has 10 days to make a decision about the bills (which does not include Sundays), or sometime between April 22 for HB-1 and April 26 for HB-2. Carney may either sign the bills, veto them, or make no decision and allow them to become law without his signature.

According to bill sponsor Rep. Ed Osienski, the arrival of HB-1 and HB-2 on Carney’s desk is the result of a lot of work by legislators and advocates. “We have been on a long, multi-year journey with the Marijuana Control Act. We have had countless hearings, debates, stakeholder engagement and deliberations. We have incorporated numerous suggestions and changes from interested parties—including the governor’s office—throughout this process to arrive at what I believe is the best possible plan for legalizing and regulating adult recreational marijuana,” said Osienski. “I am hopeful that the governor will take all of this into account as he considers these bills and that he will acknowledge the desires of an overwhelming majority of Delaware residents.”

Carney’s response to these bills isn’t certain. Most recently, Carney attended a press event for a campaign called “Making Delaware’s Roadways Safer” on March 29. While there, Delaware reporter Tim Furlong asked Carney what he might do with the cannabis legislation bills at the end of March.“No, I’d rather focus on this issue,” Carney said at an event. “Obviously I’m concerned mostly about intended consequences of legalization, including highway safety.”

Carney initially vetoed a bill to legalize cannabis possession in May 2022, stating that he supports medical cannabis and decriminalization, but not recreational cannabis. “That said, I do not believe that promoting or expanding the use of recreational marijuana is in the best interests of the state of Delaware, especially our young people,” Carney said last year. “Questions about the long-term health and economic impacts of recreational marijuana use, as well as serious law enforcement concerns, remain unresolved.”

Following the veto, legislators attempted to have the veto overridden in June 2022, but the effort failed. However, legislators reintroduced recreational cannabis into the legislature in January 2023. The House approved the bill on March 7, followed by the Senate on March 28.

In early March, Osienski shared his hopes that continually revisiting cannabis will eventually lead to a signature from the governor instead of a veto. “My hope is that with continued open dialogue with the governor’s office, that will help alleviate a veto,” Osienski said. “I have more support from my members … for a veto override, but I’m hoping it doesn’t come to that.”

Delaware shares a border with New Jersey and Maryland, which have both passed adult-use cannabis. According to a statement provided to High Times by Brian Vicente of Vicente LLP, Delaware is next up to approve legalization and help bolster cannabis on the east coast. “The impending passage of legalization in Delaware is a historic and important step towards establishing the Atlantic Seaboard as ground for legal adult cannabis regulation,” Vicente said. “For many years, legalization was considered a West Coast phenomenon, but the East Coast is now following suit. While we are still a ways away from having cannabis legal from Florida to Maine, Delaware further cements the East Coast as an area turning its back on marijuana prohibition.”

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The first measure, House Bill 1, which would legalize cannabis for adults, passed the Senate with a vote of 16-4, while House Bill 2, legislation to set up a framework for regulated recreational marijuana sales, was approved by a vote of 15-5. If they become law, the bills will make Delaware the 22nd state in the union to legalize adult-use cannabis.

The bills now head to the desk of Delaware Governor John Carney, who last year vetoed legislation to legalize adult-use cannabis, making him the only Democratic governor in the nation to make such a move. The state House of Representatives then failed to override the veto, leaving lawmakers to try again during the current legislative session. This year, however, both houses of the Delaware legislature have passed the bills with a veto-proof majority, making final passage of the bills with or without Carney’s signature all but guaranteed.

Cannabis Policy Reform Marches Forward

The neighboring states of New Jersey and Maryland have also passed legislation to legalize cannabis for use by adults, making Delaware one of the few holdouts in the Northeast left to end the prohibition of marijuana. After Tuesday’s Senate votes to legalize the bills, Brian Vicente, founding partner at the cannabis and psychedelics law firm Vicente LLP, hailed the new progress for the cannabis policy reform movement in the United States.

“The impending passage of legalization in Delaware is a historic and important step towards establishing the Atlantic Seaboard as ground for legal adult cannabis regulation,” Vicente wrote in an email to High Times. “For many years, legalization was considered a West Coast phenomenon, but the East Coast is now following suit. While we are still a ways away from having cannabis legal from Florida to Maine, Delaware further cements the East Coast as an area turning its back on marijuana prohibition.” 

Neither of the bills passed on Tuesday, however, include restorative justice provisions to expunge past convictions for cannabis-related offenses like those included in the marijuana legalization plans of many states in recent years. Natalie Papillion, chief operating officer of the Last Prisoner Project, a nonprofit group dedicated to the release of all cannabis prisoners, called out the lack of expungement measures in Delaware’s marijuana legalization plan.

“Legalization alone cannot heal the wounds of prohibition. True justice demands legislation that provides record clearance and resentencing for those affected,” she wrote in a statement to High Times. “It’s disheartening that Delaware has ignored the opportunity to start repairing these harms by failing to incorporate retroactive relief measures into this bill.”

Legalization Has Broad Public Support in Delaware

Polling in Delaware shows that nearly three-quarters of adults in the state support legalizing marijuana, while only 18% said that cannabis should remain illegal. Nearly nine out of 10 Democratic respondents said they approve of cannabis legalization, while 73% of independent voters also said they support ending the prohibition of marijuana in the state. Less than half (47%) of Republicans said cannabis should continue to be against the law, while 42% of GOP respondents support legalization.

“With this latest vote, the fight to legalize cannabis in Delaware is nearing the finish line. Cannabis policy reform has garnered widespread support among Delawareans for years. Meanwhile, neighboring states have already made the move to legalize cannabis,” Olivia Naugle, senior policy analyst at the Marijuana Policy Project, said in a statement from the cannabis reform group. “It’s encouraging to see the legislature advance these bills with veto-proof majorities. We hope Gov. Carney will heed the will of the people and allow Delaware to become the 22nd state to legalize cannabis. Any further delay to cannabis legalization would be a detriment to the state.”

Attorney Vicente said that the legalization of cannabis in Delaware could also give additional support to the effort to legalize cannabis at the federal level, noting that state lawmakers are increasingly in favor of reform.

“Importantly, after this law passes, Delaware will send two U.S. Senators and one House member to Washington, D.C., with a clear mandate to pass federal reform,” he said. “Delaware is an example of a relatively new trend in cannabis reform, with its adult-use law passing through its legislature instead of by a popular vote.”

The legislation now heads to the governor’s desk for his consideration. Before Tuesday’s vote in the Senate, Carney spokeswoman Emily Hershman said in a statement that the governor “continues to have strong concerns about the unintended consequences of legalizing marijuana for recreational use in our state, especially about the impacts on our young people and highway safety.”

“He knows others have honest disagreements on this issue,” she added. “But we don’t have anything new to share today about how the Governor will act on HB 1 and HB 2 if they reach his desk.”

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