08/04/2026
The same majority party that continues to write legislation that pushes business out of Delaware and, as a result, increases the tax burden and energy costs upon you & I, have little knowledge of the cannabis industry and yet get reelected for some unknown reason. If you want this burden upon you & your family to Increase, keep voting people dumber than you back into office. If you want to keep as much money you earn for yourself, Vote Chris Rowe for Senate > ChrisRoweforDelaware.com
High Hopes, Low Returns: What Did Delaware Taxpayers Actually Get?
Delawareans were sold recreational ma*****na with a familiar promise: legal sales would generate tens of millions of dollars in new revenue for taxpayers.
State projections placed first-full-year ma*****na tax revenue at approximately $28 million. State officials later promoted the recreational market as potentially generating more than $40 million annually. (Delaware Office of Management and Budget)
Now, let’s look at the numbers being reported from the program’s first year:
Projected tax revenue: $28 million
Estimated state startup and operating costs: $4.1 million
Expected net revenue: $23.9 million
Based on collections running at approximately $500,000 to $600,000 per month, annual tax revenue was on pace to total only about $6.6 million.
After accounting for the estimated program costs, that leaves approximately:
$2.5 million in net revenue
That is a shortfall of approximately:
$21.4 million — nearly 90% below the expected net return.
But that is exactly why government must be honest and realistic when selling major policy changes to the public.
Taxpayers deserve more than optimistic projections and promises. They deserve transparent accounting that clearly shows what was promised, what was spent, and what was actually delivered.
The question is not whether ma*****na sales generated some revenue.
The question is whether Delaware taxpayers received anything close to what they were promised.