1 of 4 | Delaware will become the 22nd U.S. state to legalize recreational marijuana after its governor on Friday allowed two bills already passed by the legislature to become law. File Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI |
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April 22 (UPI) -- Delaware will become the 22nd U.S. state to legalize recreational marijuana after its governor decided to allow two bills already passed by the legislature to become law without his signature.
Gov. John Carney said he would not veto a bill that will allow private citizens over the age of 21 to possess up to one ounce of leaf marijuana for personal consumption, and a second bill that would see the state issue 30 retail business licenses over the next 16 months through a bidding process.
The legislation also has provisions for amounts of concentrated cannabis and products containing 750 milligrams or less of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol or THC.
Delaware lawmakers passed the two pieces of legislation last month and sent them last week to Carney's desk to be signed into law.
Carney, a rare Democrat who has opposed marijuana legalization, said he maintains personal opposition to legal marijuana but would neither veto nor sign the bills. He had a 10-day window to sign, veto or let the bills pass into law.
The measures are set to take effect at midnight Sunday.
"In the coming days, I will allow House Bill 1 and House Bill 2 to be enacted into Delaware law without my signature," Carney, who has served as governor since 2017, said in a statement. "These two pieces of legislation remove all state-level civil and criminal penalties from simple marijuana possession and create a highly regulated industry to conduct recreational marijuana sales in Delaware."
Despite allowing the measures to become law, the governor reiterated his belief that the legalization of recreational marijuana "is not a step forward. I support both medical marijuana and Delaware's decriminalization law because no one should go to jail for possessing a personal use quantity of marijuana. And today, they do not."
Carney, a staunch advocate for traffic safety who previously spent six years representing Delaware in Congress, said it was "time to move on" after previously using a veto on similar legislation.
"I want to be clear that my views on this issue have not changed," he said. "And I understand there are those who share my views who will be disappointed in my decision not to veto this legislation. I came to this decision because I believe we've spent far too much time focused on this issue, when Delawareans face more serious and pressing concerns every day. It's time to move on."
