Medical Marijuana has been decriminalized in Delaware in 2011!

Delawareans for Medical Marijuana is a group of people working towards decriminalizing medical marijuana in Delaware. This site is a resource for patients, their caregivers, and other residents of Delaware seeking information about medical marijuana in general and the progress of implementation of SB 17, Delaware's medical marijuana bill..

      We want to express our deep appreciation to Senator Henry, Representative Keeley and the co-sponsors for all of their efforts in the development and passing of bill SB 17. This bill allows qualifying Delaware patients to legally purchase medical marijuana from state sanctioned dispensaries and use it legally in accordance with Delaware's laws.

      Delaware legislators have a close connection to their constituents and in part because patients, caregivers, and concerned Delawareans joined us in educating our legislators about the benefits of medical marijuana this bill has become law. Our goal was to encourage them to pass this bill to help the extremely unfortunate members of our community who are stricken with a disease such as cancer, and whose suffering is not relieved with prescribed medications.

      For these patients, medical marijuana can significantly improve their ability to tolerate the symptoms of their disease, and the sometimes awful side effects of treatments such as chemotherapy. In some cases, current treatments for these side effects do not provide relief, and therapies may need to be suspended or changed to a less effective regimen, thus decreasing their chance for recovery and even survival. It is for these Delawareans that we asked our legislators to vote for this bill.

Key elements of SB 17

Creates an exception to the state’s criminal laws to permit doctor recommended medical use of marijuana by patients with serious medical conditions.

Commonsense restrictions on the medical use of marijuana, including prohibitions on public use of marijuana and driving under the influence of marijuana.

Employers are not required to allow patients to be impaired at work or to allow the possession of marijuana at a workplace. Insurance providers would not have to cover medical marijuana.

· Physicians would be required to provide detailed, written certification, that a patient has a specified debilitating medical condition and that the patient would receive therapeutic benefit from medical marijuana.

· Medical Marijuana may only be used for specific diseases and conditions.