Move To Legalize Recreational Marijuana In PA Advances

HARRISBURG, PA — The push to legalize, regulate and tax adult-use recreational marijuana in Pennsylvania advanced Tuesday via legislation introduced by two state legislators.

Representatives Jake Wheatley and Dan Frankel, both Allegheny County Democrats, unveiled a bill that would make it legal for adults 21 and older to purchase and consume as much as 28.38 grams of cannabis and 5 grams of a cannabis product in solid, liquid or concentrated form.

If the bill becomes law, Pennsylvania would be the nation's 17th state to permit recreational marijuana use.

“We’ve heard from residents across the state, and the overwhelming majority agree it’s time to pass this initiative,” said Wheatly, who introduced similar legislation in 2017 that failed to advance. "Not only would it create jobs and generate much-needed revenue, but it contains important social justice provisions that would eliminate the aggressive enforcement of simple marijuana possession laws in marginalized communities.”

The bill also would create various grant programs, funded by marijuana sales tax revenues, to benefit multiple small, minority and women-owned businesses in the state.

Frankel contended that aspect of the legislation would provide social and economic equity for individuals and communities that have been adversely affected by the criminalization of marijuana.

“Failed cannabis policies of the past have resulted in the worst of all possible worlds: insufficient protection of the public health, aggressive enforcement that disproportionately harms communities of color and zero revenue for this commonwealth,” he said.

Under the pair's plan, a seven-member legislatively appointed panel, the Cannabis Regulatory Control Board, would oversee the marijuana industry across the state.

Initially, the board would approve licenses for medical marijuana organizations under the Medical Marijuana Act; the panel also would approve licenses for cannabis cultivator, processor, micro-business, retailer and transporter applicants.

Gov. Tom Wolf last year proposed legalizing marijuana, calling for revenue generated by the move to fund grants for small businesses, with half of it earmarked specifically for historically disadvantaged businesses. Wolf also proposed that part of the revenue be used for restorative justice programs that aim to redress damages from criminalizing marijuana.

John Fetterman, the state's lieutenant governor and a U.S. Senate candidate, also backs legalization. He surveyed residents on the topic in each of the state's 67 counties in 2019 and suggested in a report to Wolf that as many as 70 percent of people favor legalization.

In a December 2020 opinion piece in The Washington Post, Fetterman suggested it was absurd not to legalize cannabis in Pennsylvania. "In Pennsylvania and in most states, it is perfectly legal to wake up in the morning, smoke a carton of Marlboros, chug a fifth of vodka, take a pinch of Copenhagen, pop an OxyContin and gamble away your entire life savings in a state-approved casino," he wrote. "But get caught with marijuana, and you're branded a criminal for life."

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