SUMMARY: Governor Jack Markell signed legislation — Senate Bill 17, The Delaware Medical Marijuana Act — into law on May 13, 2011. State regulators have up to one-year to draft regulations to formally govern the program. The law removes state-level criminal penalties on the use and possession of cannabis obtained from state-licensed facilities for patients with an authorized “debilitating medical condition.” The measure provides for the establishment of at least one non-profit ‘compassion center’ per county that would be licensed by the state to produce and dispense medical cannabis. Recommending physicians must have “bona fide physician-patient relationship” with a person before recommending the use of medical cannabis. Medical conditions that may qualify for cannabis under this act include: cancer, HIV/AIDS, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, and post-traumatic stress disorder, as well as cachexia, chronic pain (if the condition has not responded to previously prescribed medications), severe nausea, seizures or severe and persistent muscle spasms, including but not limited to those characteristic of multiple sclerosis. Patients may legally possess up to 6 ounces of usable marijuana, if the marijuana is obtained from a state-licensed facility. Home cultivation of marijuana is not allowed under this act. The law establishes a mandatory, confidential state-run patient registry that issues identification cards to qualifying patients. The act also provides medical marijuana patients who are not registered with the state to raise an ‘affirmative defense’ motion to dismiss at trial. This act includes reciprocity provisions protecting visitors from other medical use states.