Gov. Carney’s holding a marijuana legalization roundtable this week in Wilmington

Weed’s one of the louder talking points in Delaware right now, and the residual effect it could have on the business economy at large could be huge … or it could go up in smoke (?).
Surely, that will be a focal point of the discussion on Wednesday as Governor John Carney is slated to hold a marijuana legalization roundtable. The roundtable is scheduled for April 19, 2017, at 4:00 p.m. at Delaware Tech Community College’s George Campus. We’ve been wrestling with whether or not the office of the Governor scheduled this on April 19 in order to avoid the too-on-the-nose date of April 20.
The press communication for the roundtable indicates that “depending on the extent of the roundtable discussion, there may be a brief public comment period at the end of the agenda.”
Participants will include Senator Margaret Rose Henry, Representative Helene Keeley, Zoe Patchell of the Delaware Cannabis Advocacy Network, Maggie Ellinger-Locke of the Marijuana Policy Project, Cynthia Ferguson of Delaware NORML and Linwood Jackson of the Delaware NAACP.
We caught up with Patchell, executive director of the Delaware Cannabis Advocacy Network, last week about the Delaware’s potential marijuana legislation. House Bill 110 was introduced last month, and, if passed, it will make it legal for Delaware residents 21 and up to buy up to once ounce of marijuana from licensed stores. The cannabis has to be grown in-state, too.
Patchell addressed how much money it’s costing Delaware to prohibit cannabis. Patchell indicated that “legalizing cannabis could save the state nearly $22.3 million, which is currently what they spend to address cannabis prohibition. Passing this bill could result in significant revenue and economic development.”
This isn’t simply a matter of money saved through legalization, but money earned. The state could tax the sale of marijuana, and making it so that only locally grown cannabis can be sold would stimulate Delaware’s agriculture industry. This is a forward-looking bill that could result in a lot of money over multiple unique industries.