The new Republican attorney general of Pennsylvania is concerned about “potential criminal harm” that can be done by passing the law.
In response to a question about his opinion on certain legislators’ pushes for marijuana legalization, Pennsylvania Attorney general Dave Sunday (R), said first that the district attorneys in Pennsylvania handle the majority of cases involving cannabis possession, not his office. Then he shifted to his concern about the legalization of marijuana.
“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,” he told NBC10.
The citizens must take this information and absorb it. [and] Sunday stated that the lawmakers should take in this information, digest it and then make a decision about how to proceed. Sunday said, “I do believe that as chief law enforcement officer I wouldn’t be doing my work if I did not explain” potential consequences.
Officials gave an example by pointing out, that in Pennsylvania “more than half of DUIs are now drug DUIs, or combined drug-alcohol DUIs.”
“I believe in it, and I also think that the majority of people should participate in the legislative processes. [that] “I appreciate, acknowledge, understand, and support the fact that our laws reflect the wishes of the voters, which are expressed through the ballot boxes,” said he. As the conversation continues, I’ll explain to you facts that I believe could harm people.
We must take this into account as we move forward. “I will respect whatever decision the legislators make,” said he.
The Republican Chair of an influential Senate Committee in Pennsylvania has recently stated that he is expecting to bring up legislation that will allow Pennsylvania to become the 25th U.S. state to legalize marijuana for adult use. The Republican chair of a key Senate committee in Pennsylvania recently said he expects to take up legislation this year that would make the state the 25th U.S. state to legalize adult-use marijuana.
Dan Laughlin, a Republican senator who has been a supporter of cannabis reform during previous sessions, is the chair of the Senate Law and Justice Committee. He told a local media outlet that he expected the committee to be “one of the most actively-run in the State” for the upcoming session.
The devil lies in the detail. While legalization activists and observers consider Pennsylvania to be one of the more likely states this year to pass an recreational marijuana law, there are still many details that need attention. 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. The bill didn’t pass, but the legislator said that in a recent interview he believed political support was growing for the legalization of marijuana.
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 last month 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 stated that sponsors hope to vote on the legislation “sometime in early spring.” However, it remains to be seen whether or not the legislature will support the effort to end the cannabis prohibition.
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. Low-level possession of cannabis is currently a misdemeanor punishable by up to 30 day in prison, or a maximum fine of $500.
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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.
Gov. Josh Shapiro is in favor of ending prohibition. He said last month that his budget will include a call to action for this reform.
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.
While Pennsylvania’s lawmakers reconvene amid increasing pressure to legalize cannabis, supporters view comments made by Senate President Kim Ward (R), the Senate pro Tempore in Pennsylvania, as a sign that reform measures may begin to move forward.
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.
Since that time, several federal court decisions have raised questions about the constitutionality and the 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. The man was allowed to withdraw his guilty plea. He also had the charges filed against him dismissed.
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Side Pocket Images. Image courtesy Chris Wallis.
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