Why should Delaware care? Last year, the Wilmington City Council engaged in weeks of debate over where marijuana stores should be allowed and how far they must be from schools and homes. With a new administration taking office, city officials are again proposing ways to regulate marijuana sales, even while it remains unclear when the state will issue its long-delayed final approvals.
The debate over where Wilmington should allow legal marijuana sales to occur is likely to be reignited.
In a recent statement to Spotlight Delaware, the Wilmington mayor’s office said it is evaluating proposals to limit marijuana shops to certain areas within the city, with officials saying they want to ensure that there are “buffers” between those businesses and schools and residential areas.
The comments follows heated debates last year among city councilmembers over whether the state’s newly legalized marijuana industry should be allowed to even operate in Delaware’s largest city – and if so where.
They also follow outright bans of marijuana shops enacted in about a third of Delaware municipalities – representing an ongoing unease among state leaders with the burgeoning industry.
Under Delaware’s new marijuana law, counties are not allowed to ban businesses involved in the industry, but they can restrict where they are allowed to operate. Municipalities, on the other hand, can set those restrictions or choose to ban the industry outright.
Last year, Wilmington’s city council ultimately did not pass any regulations, but more recently, Councilman Alexander Hackett proposed a 90-day moratorium on allowing marijuana retail stores in the city.
While Hackett said the moratorium would give officials time to form plans for new regulations, his proposal may not be needed because a delayed licensing process has state regulators saying that they are unlikely to issue conditional licenses before the summer.
In 2023, after the Delaware legislature passed its bill allowing for a recreational marijuana industry, state officials created the Delaware Office of the Marijuana Commissioner, and tasked it with setting up and regulating the new industry.
Early on, officials estimated that shops would open in April. Marijuana entrepreneurs then entered a lottery for licenses, and the state ultimately awarded 125.
A total of 59 licenses were assigned to New Castle County, with 14 licenses for retail, 28 for cultivation, 15 for manufacturing and two for testing establishments.
Those licensees then had to submit additional application materials and go through a federal background check. But that process has taken longer than expected, with marijuana regulators now saying it is unlikely that sales will begin this spring.
No new launch date for the industry has been publicly announced, but regulators have noted that licensees will have 18 months to find real estate and open their storefronts after they obtain final approvals.
Where they may operate in Wilmington remains unclear.
Officials from Carney’s mayoral administration say they want to create a “balance” between the safety of residents and new business opportunity when deciding on suitable locations for marijuana shops.
“What we are experiencing now is the tension between people wanting access to marijuana but not wanting it in their neighborhoods or near schools,” Daniel Walker, deputy chief of staff for Wilmington, said in an email to Spotlight Delaware.
As governor of Delaware between 2016 and 2024, Carney had publicly expressed his disapproval of a legal marijuana industry, even going as far as to veto a legalization bill in 2022.
According to state law, marijuana establishments must not be less than 1,200 feet from each other. Given that regulation and those considered by Carney, there may be few places in the city where marijuana could be legally sold.
Still, for Carney’s proposals to be effective, they must be in place before licensees obtain their final approvals and open a shop.
The mayor’s office said it should have set zoning regulations before the council’s proposed 90-day moratorium expires.
“We have to make sure that we’re vetting everything and we’re doing right by the community and not rushing this process,” Hackett said.
The council’s proposal for a moratorium has been referred to the Health, Environmental, Aging & Disabilities Committee and will be reviewed on Wednesday.
Call to action: Make your voice heard on the incoming marijuana industry by reaching out to your local council member. Share your opinions or concerns to help shape the conversation. Click here to find your district and here to locate your representative.
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