FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | August 28, 2025
Contact: Sarah Fulton (302) 401-1114
DOVER — In response to Governor Meyer’s veto of Senate Bill 75, Sen. Trey Paradee release the following statement:
“My father used to have an expression: “Son, if you ain’t got your word, you got nothing.”
He meant: If you give someone your word and you later back out or do not deliver as you promised, you will irreparably tarnish your name and reputation. Once that happens, no one will trust you or want to work with you again.
I struck a deal with Matt Meyer in late June. I agreed to support his initiative to allow the Counties to share in the State’s revenue from recreational marijuana – a concept that I was very much opposed to. In return, the Governor agreed to allow SB 75 to pass into law without his signature. Today, he backed out on his word by vetoing SB 75.
Matt’s decision will do irreparable harm to dozens of small business owners, who successfully won the lottery to open retail marijuana stores and grow facilities. Now, they have virtually nowhere to open their stores and facilities, and Sussex County will essentially become a “dry county”. Some of the lottery “winners” may go bankrupt or lose their life savings.
With the stroke of his veto pen, Matt Meyer has single-handedly destroyed any hope for a competitive recreational marijuana market and has given the most unbelievable gift to drug cartels, gangs, and the few multi-state operators whose existing medical marijuana facilities were grandfathered in. The legal market will operate as an oligopoly for the foreseeable future resulting in higher prices for consumers and the continuation of a robust illegal market run by gangs and cartels, whose products pose a serious health risk to consumers.”
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