Delaware cannabis regulators were inundated with 1,260 applications for marijuana business permits, including 844 for the 30 dispensary licenses up for grabs via lottery.
According to Delaware Online, the state Office of the Marijuana Commissioner didn’t expect such a robust turnout for the application window, which ran from Aug. 19 to Sept. 30.
“It looks like the word got out and yes, the response was very significant,” Commissioner Rob Coupe told the news site.
The total number of applications includes 519 applications for the 15 “open retailer” permits, for which any member of the public qualifies, and 325 applications for the 15 social equity retailer permits, which are reserved for eligible candidates.
There will also be permits awarded for cultivators, microbusinesses, manufacturers and testing labs. The cultivation permit winners will be the first awarded, following a lottery on Oct. 24, Delaware Online reported.
The retail lottery will be held in either November or December, but a date has yet to be set. Retail lottery winners will also have to go through a secondary application phase after that, so their licensure isn’t guaranteed even with a lottery win, Delaware Online reported.
Coupe further noted that he has the power to reopen the application and lottery process next summer if he determines that market demand warrants adding even more cannabis businesses to the state’s economy.
“The codes kind of already set up for us to, essentially, next spring or summer, evaluate where we are and determine if we need to have another process,” Coupe told Delaware Online.
There won’t be any lotteries for testing lab permits or microbusinesses because there were so few applicants, Coupe said. For instance, there were just two companies that applied to become non-social equity testing labs and two for social equity lab status, he said, and only six microbusiness applications despite nine permits available in one county alone.
Separately, all of Delaware’s six existing medical marijuana companies have also applied for recreational marijuana permits, which should be granted by sometime next month, Coupe said.
Delaware is one of the last states in the northeastern U.S. to legalize recreational cannabis; the only other holdouts are now New Hampshire and Pennsylvania, both of which have active medical marijuana markets but have thus far not legalized adult-use.
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