Recreational Cannabis has been legal in Delaware since April 23, 2023. 19 months later, the winners of the Delaware Recreational Cannabis Business License Lottery continue to struggle to find footing to operate due to local zoning laws not particularly being in favor of neighborhood pot shops. Wilmington, Delaware is still refusing to zone any areas so far, which is stupid in my opinion. Wilmington needs fresh business to revitalize the dead Downtown/Riverfront area. They shot down the Casino proposal years back that was supposed to go there. They are still shooting down the proposed shipping port off Governor Printz. I’m kind of glad about that one actually. I-95 gets backed up enough. The Interstate only goes through Delaware for 16 miles. It’s the most expensive 16 miles in tolls on the Interstate, and the most traffic congested. People headed to New Jersey from the Interstate need their own dedicated highway as much traffic they cause getting off the ramps. This article isn’t about the crappy Delaware traffic, though.

Some towns and areas in Delaware are just not going to have shops. Fresh is supposed to be opening for retail sales at their Newark, Delaware location in August of 2025. Newark wants to be a major player in the recreational cannabis market so they can tax the heavens out of the college kids.

That’s the first I’ve heard yet from the press on anyone planning to open for recreational cannabis sales. I’ve talked to a few people through Reddit that say they won cannabis licenses in the state, but I haven’t heard of a solid plan.

Commercial pot shops are quickly becoming obsolete and irrelevant due to the lack of quality. Higher quality products are becoming more available through independent brands boldly and operating under the loophole in the 2018 Farm Bill.

Commercial pot shops set the quality bar low to unsuspecting cannabis buyers. 

Cannabis quality can vary greatly depending on the source. Independent growers often prioritize hand-grown, small-batch methods, focusing on specific strains and meticulous care, resulting in higher potency and flavor. Dispensaries, on the other hand, often source from large-scale commercial growers who prioritize quantity and cost-efficiency, potentially leading to less consistent quality and potency.

Pictures Can Say 1000 Words…

Here are some images of Fresh’s operation that I snagged from the Delaware Online article. 

What the pictures show is the typical profit over quality operation that will never be able to compete with the quality of even the typical independent grower. One of the main reasons is that they run weaker lights such as LED’s that draw less power and they hang them high above the plants allowing the footprint of the light to cover more area to be able to grow more plants. Independent growers such as Dank Works’ use 1000 Watts of HID lighting for every 4 x 4 square foot of plant space. Rough estimate would be that we put about 3 to 4 times the amount of light over our plants, and our lights are hung only inches above the plant tops with serious ventilation. The plants in the pictures also look hungry. Feeding a bunch of plants costs real money in nutrients. I’m sure that business expense is looked at as a burden and not much money or research time has been allotted to it. Weak lighting, weak genetics, weak nutrients result in a weak finished product. This is what the customers are getting in every state through commercial pot shops, and Delaware will be no different. Your best bet will always be joining a collective like Dank Works.