Cannabis advocates won their first legislative victory Wednesday when a House committee voted to advance a bill that would make Delaware the ninth state to legalize recreational marijuana.

"We're very excited to see our legislators want to end the very dangerous, illicit market for cannabis and replace it with a safe, taxed and well-regulated system," said Zoë Patchell, executive director of the Delaware Cannabis Advocacy Network.

"But celebration would be premature at this point," she added. "We have a pretty big fight still ahead of us."

The House Revenue and Finance Committee voted 9-2 to move the proposed Delaware Marijuana Control Act to a vote by the full state House of Representatives. Rep. Helene Keeley, D-South Wilmington, who chairs the committee and sponsored the bill, said she plans for that vote to happen in early June.

The committee hearing lasted nearly two hours and included comments from about 35 people, both supporters and opponents. The crowd was so large that the committee had to move from an upstairs hearing room to the main House chambers.

Despite Wednesday's vote, the bill's prospects of becoming law are still bleak. Supporters need a two-thirds vote in both houses of the General Assembly because the bill contains new criminal penalties. A coalition of powerful associations and lobbying groups is opposing the legislation.

Introduced in late March, the bill would allow anyone 21 and older to purchase up to 1 ounce of marijuana from dozens of stores authorized to sell cannabis. The legislation also would authorize the creation of a marijuana industry that would include cultivation facilities, testing companies and manufacturing businesses that specialize in converting the plant into edibles, liquids, ointments and other end products.

Keeley and her Senate co-sponsor, Sen. Margaret Rose Henry, D-Wilmington, estimate the act could generate $22 million in annual tax revenue for Delaware, which is currently facing a nearly $400 million deficit.

Gov. John Carney has voiced his opposition to full legalization at this time, saying Delaware should study the impact in other states before taking action.

The bill has received enthusiastic support from an increasingly professional and active pro-cannabis community. A group called the Delaware Cannabis Policy Coalition, made up of several pro-legalization organizations, has been pressuring Carney and lawmakers to support the measure in recent weeks.

The group was out in force at Wednesday's committee hearing to argue the war on drugs has resulted in disproportionate arrests and jail sentences for African-Americans. Full legalization, they said, also would improve access to medical marijuana while generating revenue for the financially strapped state.

Several speakers argued the current prohibition on marijuana has not stopped people from using it but has made a dangerous black market the only place to obtain it.

"Unfortunately, the government cannot protect your kids from being surrounded by marijuana," said James Spadola, a former Newark police officer who started a group called Delaware Law Enforcement Officers for Progress.

Spadola, who unsuccessfully ran for the state Senate as a Republican last year, argued that the lack of regulation on marijuana means those buying it can be exposed to dangerous substances. And, he said the black market for marijuana has bred violence.

"Make no bones about it, people die because marijuana is still on the black market," Spadola said.

Maggie Ellinger-Locke, with the Washington, D.C.-based Marijuana Policy Project, said Delaware would create one of the most tightly regulated cannabis systems in the country.

"We can help ensure our teens don't have access to it and keep our communities safe," Ellinger-Locke said.

The bill's proponents appear to have the public's support on their side. A poll conducted by the University of Delaware last year found that more than 60 percent of state residents support full legalization of marijuana.

But even as supporters of legalization grow more outspoken, a new umbrella group of influential organizations has formed to oppose the bill. Led by AAA Mid-Atlantic, the Keep Delaware Safe and Healthy Coalition includes a dozen associations representing law enforcement, hospitals, doctors, nurses and anti-addiction advocates.

Opponents claim the social justice and medical concerns have been addressed by Delaware's 2011 medical marijuana law and a 2015 bill that decriminalized possession of up to an ounce of the drug. They argued that full legalization would increase the risk of drugged driving crashes, children being exposed to marijuana and liability issues for employers.

"AAA is deeply concerned that lawmakers are considering the legalization of recreational marijuana in Delaware knowing the problems that legalization would cause for the thousands of families on our roads every day," said Cathy Rossi, vice president for public and government affairs. "The problem of drugged driving is already here in Delaware."

Rossi argued the potency of the drug has increased and is worried about the impact on brain development for young people who consume it.

"Because the drug is legal, people think it's not harmful," Rossi said.

Prayus Tailor, a doctor and President of the Delaware Medical Society, said his group opposes the bill because there is not sufficient research to prove it is safe.

"Reliable, clinically-tested data to support recreational marijuana is virtually non-existent," Tailor said.

Tailor also said the state is having problems scaling up its medical marijuana program and that patients are saying it costs too much.

So far, every state that has legalized recreational marijuana has done so through a referendum – something Delaware's Constitution does not allow.

Vermont's Legislature on Wednesday became the first to approve a recreational marijuana bill. That measure now heads to Gov. Phil Scott, who has expressed concerns but declined to say whether he will veto the bill.

Delaware's effort to approve recreational marijuana use and sale through legislation will now focus on the full state House. Groups on both sides of the debate already have planned lobbying efforts at Legislative Hall in Dover on Thursday in the hopes of swaying the final outcome.

Rep. Jeff Spiegelman, R-Clayton, voted to release the bill to the House, but said he hasn't made his mind up yet on how to vote on the floor.

"It seems like for every stat there's a counter-stat. It seems like for every story there is a counter-story," said Spiegelman. "I'm not done with the discussion on this."

Contact business reporter Scott Goss at (302) 324-2281, sgoss@delawareonline.com or on Twitter @ScottGossDel. Contact Matthew Albright at malbright@delawareonline.com, (302) 324-2428 or on Twitter @TNJ_malbright.