At a Glance
Medical Marijuana Program: Yes
Adult Use / Recreational MMJ: No
Pediatric: Yes
Home grow: No
Possession limit: Six ounces
Reciprocity: No
Legislation: Senate Bill 17
Estimated # of registered patients: 1407
Types of Cannabis permitted for use: All
Legalization & Important Dates
• May 13, 2011, Senate Bill 17, was signed by Delaware Governor Jack Markell (D), effective July 01, 2011. SB 17 protects patients from arrest if he or she has a written certification from their physician, stating that they may “benefit from the therapeutic use of medical marijuana”, where the patient has a specified debilitating medical condition. No arrests may be made, so long as the patient remains in compliance with the law.
• August 15, 2013, Governor Markell sent a letter to Delaware lawmakers, stating intentions to relaunch the state’s medical marijuana program, after an earlier decision was made to halt implementation.
• June 23, 2015, Governor Markell signed Senate Bill 90, “Rylie’s Law”, making it legal for minors with intractable epilepsy or dystonia, to use non-smoked cannabis oil that is no more than 7%.
• June 26, 2015, the first Delaware medical marijuana dispensary opened, near Wilmington.
Types of Licenses
Dispensary – Compassion Centers – Fully vertical
• 2 currently open.
• 2 arriving soon.
Associated Fees
Application fee $5,000
Certification fee $40,000
Renewal $40,000
Qualifying Conditions
• Cancer,
• HIV/AIDS,
• Decompensated cirrhosis (about 20% of patients with hepatitis C may develop this condition),=
• amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
• Crohn’s disease Alzheimer’s disease
• autism; or
• A chronic or debilitating disease or medical condition or its treatment that produces one or more of the following:
• cachexia or wasting syndrome;
• severe/debilitating pain, that has not responded to previously prescribed medication or surgical measures for more than three months or for which other treatment options produced serious side effects;
• severe nausea;
• seizures;
• severe and persistent muscle spasms, including but not limited to those characteristic of multiple sclerosis.
• terminal illness
• Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
• terminal illness
• Patients 18 years or younger — qualified by a pediatric neurologist, pediatric gastroenterologist, pediatric oncologist or pediatric palliative care specialist — must be diagnosed with one of the following severe, debilitating, or life-threatening medical conditions:
o Intractable epilepsy
o A chronic or debilitating disease or medical condition where they have failed treatment involving one or more of the following symptoms
o Cachexia or wasting syndrome
o Intractable nausea
o Severe, painful and persistent muscle spasms
How to Become A Medical Marijuana Patient
1. First, you need a signed Physician’s Statement from a physician, currently licensed to practice medicine in Delaware
2. To qualify, a patient needs to be diagnosed by a physician as having one of the debilitating medical conditions that is specifically identified in the law:
3. Submit a copy of the medical marijuana recommendation, along with $125 application fee (applicants may be eligible for a reduced fee or sliding scale based on income) to the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services — for those patients on fixed income, a sliding scale fee is available. The DHSS will issue the patient with an identification card, to be used for verification purposes of law enforcement and, acquiring medical marijuana from a state-licensed medical marijuana dispensary or caregiver.
Card Holder Benefits
In order to be afforded legal protection of the Delaware Medical Marijuana law, qualified medical marijuana patients must register with the state patient registry and possess a valid identification card by submitting a marijuana card application to the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services.
• Medical Benefits
• Legal Protection
• Ease of Availability
• Access to Medical Marijuana Dispensaries
Caregivers
Caregivers are not permitted to handle medical marijuana in the state of DE
