Delaware’s House Revenue and Finance Committee voted on Wednesday, after a two-hour hearing, to release a bill to legalize marijuana for consideration by the full House.
A bill is being called a revenue-generating measure that calls for a government-run industry that would create jobs. It would also pad state coffers with licensing fees and taxes. Delaware’s state government would collect a 15 percent tax on sales of marijuana products and collect licensing fees for cultivation, manufacturing, sales and testing facilities.
“Marijuana is here. The question is ‘Are we going to regulate it?'” asked bill cosponsor and committee member Paul Baumbach.
According to Baumbach, the prohibition of marijuana, as with alcohol, has been “a dismal failure.”