State marijuana office conducts licensing lottery
A year-and-a-half in the making, the Delaware Office of the Marijuana Commissioner held its licensing lottery Oct. 24. There were 727 applications received for 21 individual licenses.
Marijuana was legalized in Delaware in April 2023. Since then, the OMC has created rules and regulations for the new program. The deadline to submit applications for different types of businesses related to marijuana was Sept. 30.
Robert Coupe, office commissioner, conducted the hour-long event from an undisclosed location on Facebook Live. He had a script for how the lottery was to be conducted and he stuck to it.
Coupe began by introducing certified public accountants Michael McCuddin and Margaret Podsiad from the firm Master Sidlow & Associates. They were there to preserve the integrity of the selection process, Coupe said.
Coupe then identified the selection process’ five witnesses who were in the room – Rep. Edward Osienski, D-Newark; Rep. Trey Pardee, D-Cheswold; Department of Safety and Homeland Security Deputy Secretary Kimberly Chandler; Marijuana Control Act Oversight Committee member Gene Duffy; and Marijuana Control Act Oversight Committee member Rich Jester.
With introductions complete, staying on script, Coupe moved to the lottery, which went like this – an introduction of the specific category being selected, confirmation that the computer program making the random selections was working, turning it over to the CPAs to push the button to generate the random results, a projection of those results on the screen, then a brief break to test the system again before the next drawing.
There were 21 individual licenses drawn among different categories within cultivation, manufacturing, social equity retail and lab testing.
A majority of the categories had four or five times more applicants than licenses available. For example, among the three counties, there were 15 social equity retail licenses available and 315 eligible applications.
That said, there were some categories that did not have a lottery because the number of applications submitted was at or below the number of licenses available. For example, there were three applications and three available licenses for a micro manufacturer in Sussex County.
The lottery for the open retail category did not take place. Coupe said those applications are still being processed because of the large number submitted. That lottery will take place in December; a date will be announced when it’s determined, he said.
With the majority of the licenses selected, Coupe said his office will contact the chosen applicants, who will then be issued a conditional license and begin the supplemental application process.
An active license enabling the licensee to commence business operations will not be issued by the OMC until it has determined all requirements have been met by applicants.
