DOVER – The marijuana industry in Delaware may see some long-cultivated growth soon as several measures are now in the works in hopes of lighting up the path forward.
Just a few weeks after the state’s first marijuana commissioner Rob Coupe announced his departure from the role, Governor Matt Meyer announced a new appointee – Joshua Sanderlin.
The announcement came late in the afternoon Monday from the office detailing his experience in the marijuana industry as a principal in his own business, Sanderlin Strategies, PLLC, and as an attorney for Greenberg Traurig, LLP. He has guided companies through complex legal and regulatory landscapes, securing cannabis licenses in numerous jurisdictions, and worked with enforcement agencies, litigation and legislative matters over the course of his career.
The governor’s office declined to arrange an interview with the Delaware Business Times and the new appointee.
Representative Ed Osienski (D-Newark), who has worked on marijuana-related legislation for years in the First State, told DBT that he has high hopes for both Sanderlin and recent legislation that would open doors previously slammed shut by local zoning regulations and federal government rulings. In particular, Sussex and Kent Counties have essentially eliminated all marijuana retail and manufacturing use through zoning restrictions.
“I just think these people that have invested so much time, energy and money into their licenses and my heart really goes out to them,” he said in an interview.
While Delaware legalized recreational marijuana use for adults in recent years and facilitated a path for the development of the adult-use industry, allowing for social equity business owners to participate in the process, as well, some roadblocks have concurrently barred the industry from beginning in the first place.
Those roadblocks, according to Osienski, could be moved with some effort.
“These business owners won their licenses to operate, but they can’t do anything. I think that’s wrong,” he said.
He also mentioned the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s recent denial of a service code which would allow Delaware to seek out background checks utilizing fingerprinting technology, as well as the current lack of a marijuana commissioner which could be resolved upon an affirmative confirmation hearing in the Senate.
To help address barriers to entry, Osienski sponsored House Bill 110 which has since successfully passed through the General Assembly and seeks to legislatively mitigate the administrative issues that blocked the FBI from approving the request for fingerprint-based national criminal background checks.
He is also working on Senate Bill 75, sponsored by Senator Trey Paradee, to limit the restrictions a county may impose on the operation of marijuana establishments in response to heavier-than-expected rules for new businesses.
“It’s boiler plate language stating that businesses must meet all county guidelines which pertains to so many things,” he told DBT. He added that this bill, in particular, will be a “more difficult lift,” even with his own colleagues in the House of Representatives.
“I’ve heard from my colleagues that you can’t take that local control away; the state shouldn’t be doing that. But I’m also aware of this being done in the past through the Coastal Zone Act,” he explained.
That act, passed in 1971, provided protections for the state’s coastline considering future industrialization and logistics activity and “includes a permitting system for existing and new industries within the coastal zone,” according to Delaware’s Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC).
“We’re going to have to try to work around it and deal with some of this. I just feel poorly for the people who have applied for some of these licenses, especially the social equity applicants because these are going to truly be small businesses and one’s we should celebrate,” Osienski said.
Projections detail that the state stands to earn more than $40 million in tax revenue from the recreational industry and Osienski said everyone seems to want a piece of that pie, including New Castle County. But he hopes that isn’t what’s standing in the way of entrepreneurs getting their start.
“Every one of these is going to create jobs. Every one of them must hire staff and employees and I think it’s unfortunate that our government is making it difficult for them,” he added.
