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Delaware Medical Marijuana Law Calls for Establishment of State-Regulated Compassion Centers
The Delaware Medical Marijuana Act, signed into law by Governor Jack Markell on May 13, 2011, allows registered qualified patients to possess up to 6 ounces of marijuana for medical use. The state’s Department of Health and Social Services will administer the registrations for patients, caregivers, and compassion centers, and the Department must develop the regulations to implement the law by July 1, 2012. Under the new law, to obtain a registration identification card, patients must be at least 18 years of age and obtain from their physician a written certification that they have a specified debilitating medical condition and would receive therapeutic benefit from medical marijuana. Some of the qualifying debilitating medical conditions detailed in the law include cancer, HIV, and AIDS, as well as chronic conditions or treatments that produce wasting syndrome, certain cases of debilitating pain, intractable nausea, seizures, or severe and persistent muscle spasms. The law includes provisions for the registration, operation, and regulation of non-for-profit compassion centers in each of Delaware’s three counties, and for the registration of designated caregivers. The first compassion centers are scheduled to be registered within 18 months of the July 1, 2011 effective date of the law. Registered designated caregivers are authorized to possess and provide up to 6 ounces of usable medical marijuana per patient for up to 5 patients. The law allows for caregivers in addition to the state-regulated compassion centers to address the needs of rural patients, low-income patients, and patients who will require caregivers to obtain medical marijuana for them.
