Here’s what you need to know as Delaware legal weed sales start Friday, Aug. 1

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Starting Friday, people 21 and over can buy marijuana at 12 retail locations in Delaware.

Recreational weed can be purchased in several forms: buds, gummies and other edibles, vapes, capsules and tinctures.

People can buy or possess no more than one ounce (28.35 grams) of buds or other “leaf” marijuana, and lesser amounts for concentrated products, at one time.

Buyers can, however, buy more than one ounce by making multiple purchases, as long as they give away any amount above an ounce. Under state law, possession of more than an ounce is a misdemeanor punishable by up to three months in prison and a fine of up to $575.

The landmark launch of the legal retail marketplace will culminate a yearslong effort that led lawmakers to legalize possession of up to an ounce of weed in April 2023. Since then, the state has worked to open the retail marketplace and license 30 retail locations, but because of bureaucratic setbacks, including delays in FBI background checks, none of the applicants who have been awarded conditional licenses are ready to open yet.

To kickstart the retail opening, which is occurring nearly two years and four months after state lawmakers legalized weed, legislators have allowed Delaware’s medical marijuana dispensaries, which are owned by six licensees, to obtain so-called conversion licenses to sell retail cannabis.

Unlike medical marijuana purchases, which are not taxed for cardholders, retail weed will carry a 15% sales tax. So if you are making a $200 purchase, it will cost $230 total.

Also under state law, people cannot take the weed they buy across state lines. Nor can they get high in public or while driving.

Where can I buy retail marijuana now?

Below is a list of the dozen locations that can open Friday for adult-use sales, according to the Delaware Office of the Marijuana Commissioner. For hours of operation, please contact the store or check their website.

• New Castle County
  • Columbia Care Delaware, 5608 Concord Pike, Wilmington 19803
  • First State Compassion, 37 Germay Drive, Wilmington 19804
  • Fresh Delaware, 800 Ogletown Road, Newark 19911
  • The Farm, 240 S. DuPont Hwy, New Castle 19720
  • Field Supply, 4555 Kirkwood Highway, Wilmington 19808
• Kent County
  • Best Buds (CannTech), 516 Jefferic Blvd., Dover 19901
  • Columbia Care Delaware, 200 S. Dupont Hwy, Smyrna 19977
  • The Farm, 105 Irish Hills Road, Felton 19943
• Sussex County
  • Best Buds (CannTech), 23 Georgetown Plaza, Georgetown 19947
  • Columbia Care Delaware, 36725 Bayside Outlet Drive, Rehoboth Beach 19971
  • First State Compassion, 12000 Old Vine Blvd., Unit 102, Lewes 19958
  • The Farm, 34164 DuPont Blvd., Frankford 19945

‘State needs the revenue. They want the revenue.’

James Brobyn, who heads the Delaware Cannabis Industry Association, says he’s delighted to finally sell retail marijuana at his Field Supply dispensary, located in the Mill Creek Shopping Center west of Wilmington.

Field Supply will open at 9 a.m. sharp Friday. Brobyn said the buzz he’s hearing has been positive.

“I mean, people are interested,’’ Brobyn said. “Over the last year we’ve said, ‘If you’re interested in rec, sign up on our website just to get information,’ and that’s really increased over the last month. People are excited. So it sounds good.”

Brobyn said he realizes many potential customers will be on summer vacations during the kickoff weekend.

“It’s August, so you never quite know who’s going to be around on a Friday, Saturday, Sunday,’’ he said. “But I feel pretty good that we’re going to have at least a good start to the program.”

Brobyn, whose business grows and manufactures its own plants and other products per Delaware law that requires weed to originate within the state, said he has plenty of inventory to take care of patients with medical cards.

“It’s all being sold from the same register,’’ he said, “There’s a couple of products that only the medical patients will be able to buy because of their strengths. But for the most part, we know what our medical sales have been and we’re always ensuring we have kind of our baseline foundational amount of products, and then medical patients get front-of-the-line privileges.”

Brobyn and other marijuana advocates said Delaware’s tax rate is high compared to nearby states. New Jersey charges 7% to 9%, depending on the municipality. Maryland’s tax is currently 12%.

“The state needs the revenue. They want the revenue,’’ Brobyn said. “But it’ll be interesting to see how that plays out.”

The bottom line, Brobyn said, is that the long wait to sell retail marijuana is over, and that he welcomes and supports retail-only competitors that will be opening within the next several months.

“We’ve all been holding our breath for the last  2 ½ years, trying to survive on a very small medical market,’’ he said. “We have to make Delaware competitive with Jersey and Maryland, and that means more products, lower prices, more retail stores.”

Jennifer Stark, chief executive of The Farm, which has three medical dispensaries — one in each county — is also thrilled, and relieved, to start retail sales.

“We’ve been planning and waiting for this for a long, long time. I know Delawareans are very excited. So we are pumped,’’ Stark said. “We are stocked up for both medical and recreational.”

Longtime legalization advocate urges boycott

Yet even as the merchants are bullish on Friday’s kickoff, longtime marijuana advocate Zoë Patchell said the medical dispensaries are getting an unfair head start. She’s urging a boycott until retail-only licensees open, likely several months from now.

Those 30 prospective retailers have conditional approval, but final approval for each one hinges on them finding and setting up a retail location and meeting the state’s strict regulations.

“It’s incredibly unfair and disappointing that six exclusive businesses who have publicly lobbied for less competition and unfair competitive advantages get to start sales ahead of all the new adult use businesses’’ because of bureaucratic slowdowns, Patchell said.

“These six businesses ended up with first sales and absolutely no competition. This is not what the people were promised and it’s not what the people supported. It’s broken promises and this is a short-sighted cash grab that will jeopardize Delaware’s brand new market.”

Stark said The Farm paid $100,000 each for their three retail conversion licenses, and that the company, which has two cultivation sites and one manufacturing facility, is assisting some of the conditional licensees with their launch. That includes logistical support as well as selling leaf and manufactured products to newcomers, she said.

“We’re on the same side. We all want the same thing, an industry that is going to flourish in Delaware,’’ Stark said. “We want Delwareans to have more places to shop in the state of Delaware.”

This story was supported by a statehouse coverage grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.