The coming year is expected to be a pivotal test of Pennsylvania’s political will to legalize recreational marijuana, something that nearly every bordering state has done over the last decade. Despite broad bipartisan agreement about the need to catch up with its neighbors, past attempts to create a legal market that drives tax revenue and centers restorative justice have stalled in the state legislature.
The cannabis industry has an optimistic view that Pennsylvania will turn the corner in 2025.
“From our perspective, we think that going into 2025 is the best look we’ve ever had at an adult-use cannabis market in Pennsylvania,” said Brittany Crampsie, spokesperson for the marijuana lobbying group Responsible PA. “We got close last year. There was a bipartisan bill introduced. There was bipartisan support in both chambers – which is pretty unique, especially given that we’re in a divided legislature.”
Pennsylvania’s path to legalizing recreational cannabis is similar to the state’s “long process” leading up to the legalization of medical marijuana in 2016, Crampsie said. That year, former Gov. Tom Wolf (D) signed the Medical Marijuana Act into law, making Pennsylvania the 24th state in the country to permit the sale of marijuana as a medicine. The state’s medical market opened up two years later and was refined and expanded in 2021.
Wolf and Lt. Gov. John Fetterman (D), who now represents Pennsylvania in the U.S. Senate, spent most of their second term ramping up support to legalize recreational marijuana.
In 2019, Fetterman conducted a statewide listening tour in all 67 counties to hear Pennsylvania residents’ views about marijuana legalization. In the middle of that year, Fetterman reported that around 70% of people who attended his sessions were supportive of legalization. Support for decriminalization was nearly unanimous.
Some of the top concerns about marijuana were whether it would be a gateway to more harmful drugs and whether legalization would increase intoxicated driving. People in support of legalization talked about the disproportionate effects of criminalization on people of color and the opportunity for Pennsylvania to use marijuana tax revenue to address other problems in the state.
In response to the listening tour, Wolf came out in support of marijuana legalization in an address at the state capitol, urging lawmakers to take action.
“I said in the past that I didn’t know if Pennsylvania was ready for this,” Wolf said in 2019. “I believe Pennsylvania is ready for this.”
H/T: www.phillyvoice.com
