Delaware

Delaware is one of the most permissive hemp-derived beverage markets in the Mid-Atlantic — but only because comprehensive state-level regulation has repeatedly failed to pass. The 2018 Delaware Industrial Hemp Research Act (3 Del. C. § 2801 et seq.) tracks the federal Farm Bill definition (cannabis ≤0.3% delta-9 THC by dry weight) and administers cultivation through the Delaware Department of Agriculture. No state statute imposes per-serving or per-container milligram caps, no state age minimum applies to hemp beverages, and no hemp-specific retail license is required. In practice this has meant hemp-derived delta-9 beverages, gummies, and other consumables sell widely at package stores (many Delaware liquor stores already stock hemp beverages alongside beer and wine), CBD shops, smoke shops, convenience stores, grocery, and online, with national hemp beverage brands shipping DTC into the state. Adult-use cannabis was legalized in 2023 through HB 1 (possession decriminalization for adults 21+) and HB 2 (the Delaware Marijuana Control Act, establishing the Office of the Marijuana Commissioner). After a slow rollout, adult-use retail launched August 1, 2025 via medical dispensary conversion licenses; the state’s ~30 planned retail cannabis licenses are still being issued. Josh Sanderlin, appointed by Gov. Matt Meyer, took office as Marijuana Commissioner on May 16, 2025. The 2026 legislative session brought two significant hemp bills. HB 373, sponsored by Rep. Deborah Heffernan (D — suburban Wilmington), would have created a THC-infused beverage framework: 10mg total delta-9 THC per container cap, mandatory testing and labeling, 21+ age gate, a $0.50-per-container excise tax, and — critically for the industry — restricted sales to package stores (with an infused beverage endorsement) and marijuana retailers. CBD shops, smoke shops, and general retailers would have been shut out; DTC would have been prohibited. Industry opposition (US Hemp Roundtable, Delaware CBD store owners, and the Delaware Cannabis Advocacy Network) argued this unfairly favored liquor stores over the businesses that built the market. HB 395, sponsored by Rep. Nnamdi Chukwuocha (D-Wilmington), was a prohibition bill: it would have moved hemp products into the licensed marijuana system, expanded the definition of THC to include isomers, and imposed a 0.4mg total THC per container cap matching federal Section 781 — effectively banning most current hemp SKUs. Both bills passed the Delaware House in mid-June 2026 (both were on the House agenda for June 16). Both then stalled in the Senate. According to WHYY’s July 1, 2026 session recap, HB 395 explicitly “passed the state House, but stalled in the state Senate”; HB 373 was not among bills sent to Gov. Meyer for signature. The Delaware General Assembly session adjourned at midnight June 30, 2026. Under Delaware’s two-year rule, bills not passed by the end of the 153rd General Assembly’s second leg are dead and would need to be refiled in the 2027 session (154th General Assembly, convening January 2027). This means hemp beverages will continue to sell at Delaware package stores, CBD shops, and general retail through at least November 12, 2026 — when federal Section 781 takes effect and directly narrows the market with no state-level framework to soften or codify the transition. Attorney General Kathy Jennings has not publicly signaled a plan to fill the regulatory gap administratively. Refiled prohibition or comprehensive-framework legislation is highly likely in the 2027 session, particularly given the pattern of both a market-restriction bill and a prohibition bill advancing simultaneously in 2026.