Delaware legalized marijuana. When will legal weed sales begin?

Delaware is the 22nd state to legalize adult-use cannabis, and like many others that legalized weed, it will take a while before consumers can line up for the first day of sales.

In New Jersey, it took a little over a year before the first recreational cannabis dispensaries opened their doors for sale. New York was able to do it in a little over eight months. Now with Delaware legalizing adult-use cannabis, many will wonder when their state’s legal weed sales will begin.

According to experts, probably a lot longer than New Jersey and New York. Here’s what we know about Delaware’s marijuana legalization and when to expect legal sales to begin.

While it may have taken around a year for some states, Delaware consumers may have to wait up to two years before they can buy legal weed, according to the executive director of the Delaware Cannabis Advocacy Network, Zoë Patchell, who has been working for this moment for the last 10 years.

“Barring no delays or issues, we are hoping Delaware will see its first legal cannabis sale sometime between late November 2024 and early 2025,” said Patchell. “There are quite a few factors involved with why it will take Delaware so long.”

The first step is for Delaware Gov. John Carney to appoint a commissioner for the adult-use cannabis industry who will implement regulations for the market and set up the application process for potential operators, Patchell said. Then potential operators will need to apply for licensing, which won’t happen until next May at the earliest, according to Delaware’s Department of Safety and Homeland Security.

Once licenses are issued, cannabis will need to be grown, processed/packaged and then have dispensaries available to sell products. According to Patchell, this will be a long process.

HB1 and HB2, the two bills passed into law in April that made weed legal and allowed for the creation of an adult-use industry, set up deadlines for when the commissioner has to issue licenses for cultivators, manufacturers and retailers to be able to operate.

The deadlines for when the commissioner has to issue cannabis licenses in Delaware are:

This means that by the latest, Delwarareans should see at least one legal weed dispensary open by next November, according to state law.

Delaware has a history of slow marijuana rollouts. The state legalized medical marijuana in 2011, but sales didn’t begin until four years later in 2015. While sales began in 2015, there was only one medical dispensary (forcing some patients to make 180-mile round trips to the lone dispensary) for the entire state until 2017.

Additionally, while the State outlined deadlines for the adult-use industry, Patchell says they still haven’t fully implemented the medical marijuana industry as the state was supposed to have six separate medical operators since 2014. As of publishing, there are still only five separate entities with dispensaries available to patients in the state.

“We’re in the middle of 2023 and we still haven’t seen full implementation of the medical cannabis program,” Patchell said. “So it’s definitely something that we’re concerned about, and that we’re going to have to stay heavily involved in to ensure that the deadlines are met.”

When it comes to passing adult-use legalization, this isn’t Delaware’s first rodeo either, as legislators tried to pass legalization last year but Gov. Carney vetoed the proposal — despite more than 60% of voters approving it. This time around both chambers of Delaware’s legislature agreed to legalization and it was again up to Carney to veto or pass into law, who reluctantly did not sign or veto legislation legalizing marijuana in the state, resulting in the bills passing by default.

As residents of Delaware slowly await the rollout of legal weed in the state, they can in the meantime let out a sigh of relief as no one will get in legal trouble for having a personal stash of marijuana — even if bought illegally — moving forward.

“Until [legal sales begin], legal possession did go into effect for adults, so adults are now able to legally possess up to an ounce of cannabis in Delaware, and of course, there are two neighboring states with legal access. So I wouldn’t be surprised if folks are already going there.”

Expert sources

• Zoë Patchell, executive director, Delaware Cannabis Advocacy Network
• Oliva Naugle, senior policy analyst, Marijuana Policy Project
• Arshon Howard, chief of community relations, Delaware Department of Safety and Homeland Security