Delaware marijuana task force to vote on final report

A legislative task force studying the possible legalization of recreational marijuana has drafted a final report, but it remains unclear whether the panel will endorse the document.

Co-chair Rep. Helene Keeley, D-Wilmington, on Wednesday said she expects to call for a vote on the task force's final recommendations on Feb. 28.

"I think it's the fair thing to do," she said. "I believe there should be enough votes for it to pass."

The outcome might not be so certain, however.

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The 25-member task force is composed of advocates and opponents for full legalization, along with a handful of public officials – many of whom have not chosen a side.

That means the outcome could hinge on the Cabinet-level state agencies with seats on the panel: the departments of state, agriculture, finance, safety and homeland security, health and social services, and natural resources and environmental control.

Gov. John Carney has repeatedly voiced opposition to full legalization, saying Delaware should continue studying how it is impacting other states before taking any action here. He also has argued that more time is needed to fully implement the state's 2011 medical marijuana law and the decriminalization of small amounts of marijuana possession approved in 2015.

A spokesman for the governor on Wednesday did not immediately answer whether Carney would direct task force members from those agencies on how to vote on the final report.

When asked what would happen if the task force votes against releasing the report, Keeley responded that she would "cross that bridge when we come to it."

A 15-page draft of the document circulated this week includes a synopsis of the main topics discussed by the task force during its five meetings since September, along with nine "actionable solutions" that the panel agreed should be in place if recreational marijuana is legalized.

Those recommendations include allowing municipalities to enact local regulations; requiring a "seed to sale" tracking system; prohibiting products from resembling candy or cartoon characters; providing funding to police training and enforcement; and clarifying what is meant by "impaired by" and "under the influence" of marijuana.

Yet some of the task force's most outspoken opponents of recreational marijuana legalization say the 15-page draft report does not fully address their concerns.

"The draft report fails to go far enough and skims the surface of an extremely complex issue," said Cathy Rossi, vice president of public and government affairs for AAA Mid-Atlantic. "We can't ignore the experiences of other states that have implemented this, and the report does not include some of those experiences."

The Delaware State Chamber of Commerce also does not feel the draft report adequately voices the issues raised by employers, said Tim Holly, who chairs the chamber's employer advocacy committee.

"The state chamber wants to make very clear through specific language that employers' can have the [anti-drug] policies they wish and will not face a claim that those policies have all of the sudden become impermissible or unlawful," he said.

A final vote by the Adult Use Marijuana Task Force would not directly alter the legality of recreational marijuana use in Delaware. Instead, the task force's mission is to produce a report that weighs how Delaware might regulate and tax legal weed.

Keeley and Senate Majority Leader Margaret Rose Henry, D-Wilmington, introduced legislation in early 2017 that would allow people 21 and older to purchase up to an ounce of marijuana from dozens of stores authorized to sell cannabis manufactured at a number of licensed Delaware grow operations – creating a new industry that could generate $25 million a year in tax revenue for the state.

House Bill 110 was voted out of committee in May but has yet to be called up for a vote before the full House of Representatives.

Keeley and Henry chose to create the task force in the hopes that its final report might help sway legislators who are still undecided about their bill. The legislation's chances of success have become only more muddied since January when Attorney General Jeff Sessions altered the Trump administration's policy toward marijuana.

"As I've said all along, I think we're really close," Keeley said Wednesday. "I think we're less than a handful shy of what we need."

Regardless of whether the task force endorses the final report, Keeley said she plans to incorporate many of the task force's recommendations into an amended version of HB 110.

Proponents of recreational marijuana legalization held a press conference Wednesday morning with travel writer Rick Steves, host of the PBS documentary series "Rick Steves' Europe," to urge lawmakers to pass HB 110.

A board member of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, Steves said full-legalization generates $300 million a year in tax revenue for his home state of Washington.

"This not a pro-pot law," he said. "It's a public safety law. It's pro-civil liberties, anti-racism, pro-fiscal responsibility and takes the wind out of a thriving black market."

Members of the local grassroots nonprofit atTAcK Addiction, meanwhile, said the legislation would lead to an increase in opioid addiction, which killed 308 Delaware residents in 2016.

"It will essentially be throwing gasoline on an already raging wildfire in our state and our country," member Bill Lynch said. "Every state senator or representative who votes for HB 110, the blood will be on your hands."

Contact reporter Scott Goss at (302) 324-2281, sgoss@delawareonline.com or on Twitter @ScottGossDel.