The governor of Pennsylvania has once again included a proposal to legalize marijuana in his budget request—calling on the legislature to enact the “long overdue” reform, even if it seems “complicated.”
Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, has proposed legalization twice in the past two years. Josh Shapiro claims that Keystone State is losing out on a large amount of revenue to other states who have legalized cannabis.
Shapiro said in his latest budget address on Tuesday that coming to embrace marijuana legalization as a father and former state attorney general “was hard for me.”
“But I took the time to study it and understand the impacts—to understand the choice between continuing the black market of drug dealing versus a highly-regulated industry with protections in place for our children,” he said in remarks as prepared for delivery. It doesn’t make any sense to let this industry operate under the radar. We’re making Pennsylvania more competitive by not doing anything.
We shouldn’t fool ourselves. The governor stated that Pennsylvanians wanting to purchase marijuana can drive just across the border into one of our neighboring states. Five of our neighbors have legalized cannabis for adult use. The CEOs in New Jersey Maryland and New York told me that 60% of their customers were Pennsylvanians.
“We lose out on revenues that go to other states rather than helping us here,” said he. We’re missing out on an opportunity that will generate $1.3 billion of new revenue for our Commonwealth over the next five years.
Shapiro said: “I request that you come together to submit a law legalizing cannabis for adult use and expunging records of individuals convicted in nonviolent cases of possession of small quantities of marijuana.”
The bill must “protect public safety and give communities who have suffered because of the criminalization cannabis a chance to succeed.”
I know that some will say this is complicated but we’ve been talking about it for years. In the past two years alone, Ohio and Maryland have legalized marijuana, while we continue to fall behind,” said he. “I am encouraged that Republicans and Democrats alike are joining the cause, and embracing economic freedom and liberty. Let’s get it done.”
But it is unclear whether the legislators will listen. Senate Majority Joe Pittman(R), a leading Republican in the Senate, recently said that the logistical issues are too difficult for lawmakers to handle.
“It’s a practicality issue more than a philosophical issue,” he said last month, referencing the continued federal prohibition on cannabis and his concerns about the state’s ability to effectively regulate a cannabis market.
The top GOP legislator argued that “clearly, this state did not do well” in rolling out the medical marijuana. “We have not shown our capability to manage something that large.”
House Majority leader Matt Bradford (D) however indicated that the time was ripe for reform to be advanced this session. He said “it seems to me that we’re abdicating the responsibility of protecting our communities and children and, at the same, it is costing us revenue which would have gone to our neighboring States.”
The possible votes on legalization are very close. But he is confident they can be gathered and that a positive path to cannabis exists.
Meanwhile, the new Republican state attorney general of Pennsylvania recently raised concerns about the “potential harm that could be caused criminally” by enacting the reform.
“From a policy perspective, what I can say is—and this is something that I said all throughout the campaign—regardless of what policy issue we’re talking about… you have to have voices from from from all parts of the community on this, and I would be remiss as a prosecutor and now as a chief law enforcement officer for Pennsylvania if I wasn’t a voice outlining the potential harm that could be caused criminally as a result of that,” Attorney General Dave Sunday (R) said.
He said that he expects to introduce legislation in this year to make Pennsylvania one of 25 states to have legalized adult-use cannabis. He also thinks that more of his GOP colleagues could get on board with the reform soon than have in the past.
Dan Laughlin, a Republican senator who has been a supporter of cannabis reforms during previous sessions, is the chair of the Senate Law and Justice Committee. He said that he expected the committee to be “one of the most actively-run in the State” for the new legislative session.
Many legalization supporters and observers believe Pennsylvania will be among the states that pass recreational marijuana laws this session. However, details are important. One lawmaker has floated a relatively simple bill to decriminalize personal possession, while two others plan to introduce more sweeping legislation that would legalize through a state-run system of stores.
Laughlin, a longtime legalization advocate, last spring introduced a bill meant to remove state barriers to medical marijuana patients carrying firearms. While the bill did not move forward, Laughlin said during a recent radio interview that the political backing for marijuana legalization is growing.
The senator said an event last May that the state is “getting close” to legalizing marijuana, but the job will only get done if House and Senate leaders sit down with the governor and “work it out.”
Reps. Dan Frankel (D) and Rick Krajewski (D) announced in December that they planned to file legalization legislation, emphasizing that there’s a “moral obligation” to repair harms of criminalization while also raising revenue as neighboring state markets mature.
Frankel, who is one of the sponsors for the bill, said that they hope it will be voted on “sometime during early spring.” But questions still remain about whether the Legislature would support his push to eliminate cannabis prohibition through the model he proposes.
A separate decriminalization measure, meanwhile, from Pennsylvania Rep. Danilo Burgos (D), would make simple possession of cannabis a summary offense punishable by a $100 fine without the threat of jail time. Current law considers low-level cannabis possession a misdemeanor that can result in up to 30days of jail time, maximum $500 fine, or both.
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Additionally, in September, bipartisan Reps. Aaron Kaufer (R) and Emily Kinkead (D) formally introduced a bipartisan marijuana legalization bill, alongside 15 other cosponsors.
In July, the governor said his administration and lawmakers would “come back and continue to fight” for marijuana legalization and other policy priorities that were omitted from budget legislation he signed into law that month.
Meanwhile, a top GOP Pennsylvania senator who has long expressed concerns about marijuana legalization told advocates recently that she’s against arresting people over cannabis, noting that the policy change could protect her son and disclosing that if it weren’t for marijuana, she might not have met her husband, according to an activist who spoke with her.
The comments of Senate Pro Tempore Kim Ward, (R), as Pennsylvania’s legislative body reconvenes in response to increasing pressure for legalization measures are seen by advocates as positive signs that there may be a weakening dam against cannabis reform measures.
As for medical marijuana, the governor in October signed a bill to correct an omission in a law that unintentionally excluded dispensaries from state-level tax relief for the medical marijuana industry.
About three months after the legislature approved the underlying budget bill that Shapiro signed containing tax reform provisions as a partial workaround to a federal ban on tax deductions for cannabis businesses, the Pennsylvania legislature passed corrective legislation.
Separately, at a Black Cannabis Week event hosted recently by the Diasporic Alliance for Cannabis Opportunities (DACO) in October, Street and Reps. Chris Rabb (D), Amen Brown (D), Darisha Parker (D) and Napoleon Nelson (D) joined activists to discuss their legislative priorities and motivations behind advancing legalization in the Keystone State.
Other lawmakers have also emphasized the urgency of legalizing as soon as possible given regional dynamics, while signaling that legislators are close to aligning House and Senate proposals.
As for cannabis and gun ownership, Laughlin had been looking at the issue for more than a year before introducing last year’s bill, writing last February to the state’s acting police commissioner to “strongly encourage” he review a federal ruling that the U.S. government’s ban on gun ownership by people who use marijuana is unconstitutional.
In the years since, other federal court cases have challenged the constitutionality the federal gun ban. A federal judge in El Paso, for example, recently ruled that the ongoing ban on gun ownership by habitual marijuana users was unconstitutional in the case of a defendant who earlier pleaded guilty to the criminal charge. A court in El Paso allowed a man to withdraw his plea, and then ordered the dismissal of the criminal charges against him.
New York Senators file bill to decriminalize possession of all drugs
Philip Steffan provided the photo.
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