Delaware lawmakers expected to OK adult-use marijuana but …

The Delaware state Senate is expected to vote in favor of two adult-use marijuana legalization bills on Tuesday.

An affirmative vote for recreational cannabis would set up another potential showdown with Gov. John Carney, according to the Delaware News Journal.

The governor, a Democrat, is an avowed legalization opponent whose veto blocked adult-use legalization last year.

Earlier this month, two separate bills passed the state House of Representatives.

The measures would legalize recreational marijuana for adults 21 and older and set up a regulated industry in the nation’s second-smallest state:

• House Bill 1 ends criminal penalties for adults 21 and older possessing an ounce or less of marijuana.
• HB 2, which requires a three-fifths supermajority in order to become law, sets up a regulatory framework similar to those seen in other states.

Localities would be allowed to ban commercial cannabis activity.

The Democratic Party holds a supermajority in both chambers of the state Legislature, but it’s not yet clear if there’s enough support to overcome the expected veto from Carney.

HB 1 passed the state House by a 28-13 vote. Twenty-five votes would be required to beat a Carney veto.

No Republicans voted for legalization last year, when too few lawmakers supported legalization to overturn Carney’s veto of similar legislation.

Last year, several lawmakers who supported legalization declined to challenge the governor’s veto.

According to the Delaware Cannabis Coalition, legalization might have an unlikely foe – the state’s existing medical marijuana providers.

Some of Delaware’s MMJ operators are lobbying against HB1 and HB2, coalition director Zoe Patchell told Salisbury, Maryland, TV station WMDT.

Delaware legalized medical marijuana in 2014, and sales began in 2015.

Source: https://mjbizdaily.com/delaware-lawmakers-could-approve-adult-use-marijuana/