A Delaware lawmaker who sponsored a pair of recently enacted marijuana legalization and sales bills is offering some advice to fellow legislators in other states who are thinking about pursuing the reform.
Rep. Ed Osienski (D) discussed the complex politicking that was required to advance legalization during a Facebook Live event hosted by the Marijuana Policy Project and Delaware Cannabis Policy Coalition on Tuesday.
He attributed much of the success to his staff who worked alongside him, monitoring legalization laws that were being implemented in other states, building a bipartisan coalition to support his efforts and drafting and revising the two cannabis bills that Gov. John Carney (D) ultimately allowed to take effect without his signature last month.
Picking the right staff who are “passionate” about the issue is key, Osienski said, as well as finding co-prime sponsors in both chambers who are willing to do the difficult work.
Also, he advised legislators to sit down with “affected state agencies” like the Departments of Health, Finance and Agriculture. “We had to sit down through meeting after meeting to try to work out a lot of the issues,” he said.
Osienski recommended that lawmakers avoid “opening up the revenue that’s collected from
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