Pennsylvania Senate sponsors touted their proposal to permit the recreational use of marijuana by adults on Wednesday, April 2o – i.e., 4-20, the day marijuana users annually celebrate their indulgence and clamor for its legalization.
“Legalization must be done the right way, and my bill ensures a legalized Pennsylvania market is implemented safely and responsibly, with a thoughtful approach that provides opportunities to medical and recreational consumers, farmers and small, medium and minority-owned businesses,” State Senator Dan Laughlin (R-Erie) said in a statement.
Laughlin’s principal co-sponsor on the bill is State Senator Sharif Street (D-Philadelphia). Their legislation has six other co-sponsors, all of which are Democrats from the southeast, the Lehigh Valley, or nearby areas. It has yet to receive a vote in the Republican-controlled Senate Law and Justice Committee.
When Laughlin and Street introduced the measure over a year ago, they cited survey results indicating that adult recreational use of cannabis products had the support of two-thirds of Pennsylvanians and that a majority of residents of even conservative, rural communities back legalization.
The Laughlin-Street bill would make 21 the minimum age at which Pennsylvanians could consume marijuana and it would prohibit the marketing of either smokable or edible cannabinoid substances to those underage. It also provides for the expungement of all convictions for nonviolent marijuana-related offenses.
Upon introducing the bill, the senators noted that neighboring New Jersey also legalized recreational marijuana use in 2021 and rightly predicted that New York would soon do the same. Currently, 18 states as well as the District of Columbia and the territory of Guam permit adults to consume the substance for non-medical reasons.
Laughlin and Street thus declared it was Keystone State lawmakers’ obligation to allow residents to use cannabis, warning that declining to do so would cost the state dearly in terms of tax revenue as well as job creation. Shortly before the senators announced their legislation, Pennsylvania’s Independent Fiscal Office estimated that taxes from the sale of marijuana and from the incomes of workers in the new industry would amount to anywhere from $400 million to $1 billion.
Earlier this year, Laughlin and Street also introduced a bill to let medical marijuana (MMJ) patients grow some cannabis plants in their homes for the patients’ own consumption. Like the recreational-use bill, the home-grow measure has no Republican sponsors other than Laughlin and it has not come up for a committee vote.
In support of their measure to allow patients to grow MMJ in their homes, the senators said major disparities in accessibility persist — that, indeed, residents of some counties have to travel for over two hours to get to a dispensary. Presently, over 400,000 Pennsylvania residents possess state-issued permission to use MMJ.
On April 8, Laughlin announced to colleagues his plans to sponsor another measure-relaxing marijuana law in Pennsylvania, specifically to allow medical cannabis patients to buy MMJ products in edible forms. In a memorandum seeking co-sponsors for this bill, he wrote that taking the substance orally is one of the most effective methods to achieve an optimal “time-release” effect. He indicated that tens of thousands of Pennsylvanians use marijuana for gradual alleviation of long-lasting pain.
Pennsylvania legalized marijuana use for medical purposes in 2016, and dispensaries offering the substance to those with permission to utilize it opened two years later. Altogether, 42 U.S. states and territories confer eligibility on some residents to use MMJ.
The 2016 MMJ law permits Pennsylvania patients to mix the marijuana they purchase into edible forms, chiefly baked goods like cookies and brownies. But those licensed to sell the product may only purvey it in the form of topicals, oils, pills, dry leaf, liquids, or tinctures.
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Bradley Vasoli is managing editor of The Pennsylvania Daily Star. Follow Brad on Twitter at @BVasoli. Email tips to [email protected].
