Delaware Governor Signs Marijuana Bill To Address FBI Dispute That Threatened To Delay Recreational Market Launch

Delaware’s governor has signed a bill meant to fix an issue with the state’s marijuana legalization law that led the Federal Bureau of Investigation to reject its request to create a fingerprint background check system for would-be cannabis industry workers.

One week after the legislature passed the measure from Rep. Ed Osienski (D), Gov. Matt Meyer (D) gave it final approval on Thursday.

“Delaware’s recreational cannabis industry is going to create good-paying jobs and provide critical revenue for the state to help pay for schools, housing, and healthcare,” the governor said in a press release. “House Bill 110 will strengthen our background check requirements, align our practices with federal standards, and safeguard public trust.”

“As we implement these measures, we’ll keep pressing the federal government to end the bureaucracy standing in the way of getting this industry launched quickly and with integrity,” he said.

Earlier this month in his State of the State address, Meyer criticized the FBI over its decision on the background check issue, a situation that has threatened to delay the launch of Delaware’s adult-use market.

“The FBI’s insistence that Delaware’s original recreational marijuana law is insufficient is just another egregious example of federal bureaucracy stifling state-led innovation,” he said at the time.

Osienski, the sponsor of the bill that’s now been enacted into law, said he is “grateful” to the governor and his colleagues in the House and Senate for “getting this legislation to the finish line as quickly as possible.”

“With HB 110 now law, I’m hopeful the Office of the Marijuana Commissioner will be able to secure the necessary approvals to establish the background check system needed to move Delaware’s adult-use cannabis industry forward,” he said.

Earlier this week, Meyer nominated attorney and government regulations expert Joshua Sanderlin to serve as the state’s next top cannabis regulator.

While state officials had been planning to license the first recreational cannabis businesses in April, the enacted statute requires the background checks to be in place first.

The Office of the Marijuana Commissioner (OMC), which is responsible for regulating the market, said recently that it had worked with the State Bureau of Identification and the Delaware Department of Justice to obtain the required FBI service code before receiving a denial late last month.

Under Osienski’s bill, HB 110, the state’s current marijuana law will be amended to identify categories of people who will need to complete fingerprint-based background checks within the cannabis industry. The hope is that it will bring statute into compliance, after which point another request for the service code would be submitted to FBI.

Marijuana remains illegal at the federal level, but FBI has previously granted a fingerprinting background system for Delaware’s medical cannabis program.

Late last year, OMC held a series of licensing lotteries for cannabis business to start serving adult consumers.

A total of 125 licenses will ultimately be issued, including 30 retailers, 60 cultivators, 30 manufacturers and five testing labs. Last year, regulators also detailed what portion of each category is reserved for social equity applicants, microbusinesses and general open licenses.

Regulators have also been rolling out a series of proposed regulations to stand up the forthcoming adult-use cannabis industry.

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Meanwhile, former Gov. John Carney (D) raised eyebrows in January after making a questionable claim that “nobody” wants cannabis shops in their neighborhoods, even if there’s consensus that criminalization doesn’t work.

The then-governor last year signed several additional marijuana bills into law, including measures that would allow existing medical cannabis businesses in the state to begin recreational sales on an expedited basis, transfer regulatory authority for the medical program and make technical changes to marijuana statutes.

The dual licensing legislation is meant to allow recreational sales to begin months earlier than planned, though critics say the legislation would give an unfair market advantage to larger, more dominant businesses already operating in multiple states.

In October, Carney also gave final approval to legislation to enact state-level protections for banks that provide services to licensed marijuana businesses.

Delaware’s medical marijuana program is also being significantly expanded under a law that officially took effect last July.

The policy change removes limitations for patient eligibility based on a specific set of qualifying health conditions. Instead, doctors will be able to issue cannabis recommendations for any condition they see fit.

The new law also allows patients over the age of 65 to self-certify for medical cannabis access without the need for a doctor’s recommendation.

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Photo courtesy of Chris Wallis // Side Pocket Images.