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The mayor of Wilmington admits that the city will have to “make some accommodation” for a legal weed – The News Journal

The mayor of Wilmington admits that the city will have to “make some accommodation” for a legal weed – The News Journal

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As governor of Delaware, John Carney was resistant to legal weeds entering the markets of the first country.

But since the longtime politician is now established as mayor of Wilmington and is fighting issues that the largest city of Delaware faces – including how the city will manage the production and sales of cannabis for relaxation – Carney’s position has shifted.

“I think the reality is that we will have to make some accommodation and find a place or identify places that are the less controversial,” he said during a recent interview with Delaware Online/The News Journal at his mayor office.

The Wilmington City Council ended the 108th session without acting under the zoning legislation to regulate legal entertainment marijuana, leaving the decisions of the new council and the mayor in 2025.

Unlike other communities who have either made decisions to seriously restriction or allow retail stores before the state announced awards for retail permits last year, city MPs left the Limbo situation.

Carney and City Council members are working together to come up with the right places for the industry now, said council member Maria Cabrera, who sponsors the original zoning legislation, which allows entertainment cannabis.

“Now this is the law of the earth,” she said. “We need to find the best way to introduce it to the Wilmington Community with a fair compromise.”

Past actions of the Council

Members of the Board of Wilmington began discussing the legal market zoning legislation in October, more than a year after Delaware approved marijuana for adult recreation in April 2023.

City authorities were divided how to allow the legal market operations in Wilmington, with some legislators wanting to slow down the process with moratoriums and outspoken prohibitions in retail stores. Council members even asked the state to suspend the permit process.

The residents expressed fears of the legal impact on the neighborhoods, some of which were rooted in the wrong perceptions of the plant and the market.

In the end, the reverse stopped the discussions and the Cabrera in November withdrew the zoning proposal.

What is next?

Cabrera said it would be crucial to continue training and showing “other dispensors in Delaware, even if they were just healing, and other cities that had no problems” dispel the misconceptions of the industry.

There are no cases scheduled with the Wilmington Planning Commission, which deals with the legal zoning of weeds.

The City Council also has no resolutions or legislation.

The head of the Staff of the Council Ilia Simmons said that the council members are negotiating with the Carney administration, but there is no time line when it can be placed on the agenda of the Council.

Do you have advice? Contact Amanda Fries at [email protected] or calling or sending text messages 302-598-5507.

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