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A Republican Pennsylvania senator and former federal law enforcement agent announced on Monday that he will be filing a bill to legalize marijuana in the state\u2014and he\u2019s asking his colleagues to join him in the effort.<\/p>\n
Sen. Mike Regan (R), who chairs a key committee with jurisdiction over law enforcement issues, characterized legalization as \u201cinevitable\u201d and is circulating a cosponsorship memo to build support for the forthcoming measure. Before taking office, he served as a U.S. marshal, making it all the more notable that he\u2019s taking this step to end criminalization and enact a system of regulated cannabis sales for adults.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had the opportunity to work in federal law enforcement at the height of the drug war, so I know the seriousness of drug use,\u201d Regan wrote. \u201cBut I am also cognizant that there has been a significant decline in arrests and prosecutions for personal use amounts of marijuana in recent years.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOur law enforcement agencies and justice system do not have the manpower or time to handle these minor marijuana offenses that clog our courts and produce little return,\u201d he said. \u201cInstead, police and prosecutors need to focus on protecting our residents from the violent criminals and large-scale drug importers that are also dealing in heroin and fentanyl, which kill thousands of Pennsylvanians each year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Given the senator\u2019s law enforcement credentials and relationships with GOP colleagues who have been historically resistant to Democratic-led pushes for legalization, Regan\u2019s move could help shift the conversation in the legislature.<\/p>\n
Under the senator\u2019s proposal, portions of tax revenue from marijuana sales would support law enforcement and after-school programs for disadvantaged youth. He noted estimates that Pennsylvania could eventually bring in $1 billion annually in cannabis revenue.<\/p>\n
Just last week, a separate pair of state lawmakers\u2014Reps. Jake Wheatley (D) and Dan Frankel (D)\u2014formally unveiled a legalization bill they\u2019re proposing<\/a>. That one would prioritize social equity for communities most harmed by the war on drugs, in part by allocating 15 percent of revenue for community reinvestment.<\/p>\n Lt. Gov. John Fetterman (D), who is running for U.S. Senate<\/a>, told Marijuana Moment in a phone interview on Monday that there may be disputes between legislators over how tax revenue should be distributed, but Regan\u2019s proposal overall is \u201csignificant\u201d because it breaks with the largely partisan sentiment surrounding legalization in the GOP-controlled legislature.<\/p>\n He said he\u2019s \u201cdefinitely\u201d encouraged by this latest development.<\/p>\n Last week\u2019s unveiling of the Democratic-led House legalization bill also comes as a bipartisan Senate duo is also in the process of crafting separate legislation to legalize cannabis across the commonwealth. Sens. Sharif Street (D) and Dan Laughlin (R) announced some details of the proposal earlier this year<\/a>, but their bill has yet to be formally introduced.<\/p>\n Here are some of the details of the Regan bill outlined in the cosponsorship memo<\/a>:<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cFor those questioning my sponsorship of such legislation, it is important to recognize that legalization of adult-use marijuana in Pennsylvania is inevitable,\u201d Regan, who serves as the chairman of the Senate Law and Justice Committee, wrote a separate op-ed<\/a> on the measure:<\/p>\n \u201cI am stepping up to be a leader on the issue, as I did on medical marijuana,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I am doing so using a common-sense, bi-partisan, bi-cameral approach that will provide Pennsylvanians access to a safe product, create thousands of jobs, level the playing field with neighboring states, support law enforcement and our communities, and more importantly, defund the deadly drug cartels who have wreaked so much havoc on the Commonwealth and our country for so many years.\u201d<\/p>\n While broad cannabis legalization proposals have not moved forward in the GOP-controlled legislature, Pennsylvania senators heard testimony last month on a bill to protect medical marijuana patients<\/a>\u00a0from being prosecuted under the state\u2019s \u201czero tolerance\u201d DUI laws.<\/p>\n \u2014 Sen. Camera Bartolotta (R)\u00a0first introduced an earlier version<\/a>\u00a0of the\u00a0bill\u00a0in June 2020. She said at the time that the state needs to \u201censure that the legal use of this medicine does not give rise to a criminal conviction.\u201d<\/p>\n Months after the standalone reform legislation was introduced, the Pennsylvania House approved\u00a0a separate amendment that would enact the policy change<\/a>.<\/p>\n Outside the legislature, Gov. Tom Wolf (D)\u00a0said earlier this year that marijuana legalization was a priority<\/a>\u00a0as he negotiated the annual budget with lawmakers. However, his formal spending request didn\u2019t contain legislative language to actually accomplish the cannabis policy change.<\/p>\n Wolf, who signed\u00a0a medical cannabis expansion bill in June<\/a>, has repeatedly called for legalization and\u00a0pressured the Republican-controlled legislature to pursue the reform<\/a>\u00a0since\u00a0coming out in favor of the policy in 2019<\/a>. Shortly after he did that, a lawmaker filed a separate bill to\u00a0legalize marijuana through a state-run model<\/a>.<\/p>\n On Monday, the governor tweeted that he\u2019s \u201call for legalizing adult-use recreational marijuana in Pennsylvania.\u201d<\/p>\n I’m all for legalizing adult-use recreational marijuana in Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n For me to sign, the bill must include efforts to restore justice to Pennsylvanians who have been over-punished for marijuana offenses.<\/p>\n General Assembly: Let’s talk. https:\/\/t.co\/5AfwgqSLgQ<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Governor Tom Wolf (@GovernorTomWolf) October 4, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n \u201cFor me to sign, the bill must include efforts to restore justice to Pennsylvanians who have been over-punished for marijuana offenses,\u201d he said. \u201cGeneral Assembly: Let\u2019s talk.\u201d<\/p>\n In May,\u00a0Wolf pardoned a doctor<\/a>\u00a0who was arrested, prosecuted and jailed for growing marijuana that he used to provide relief for his dying wife. That marked his\u00a096th pardon for people with cannabis convictions<\/a>\u00a0through the Expedited Review Program for Non-Violent Marijuana-Related Offenses that\u2019s being run by the Board of Pardons.<\/p>\n Overall, legalization is popular among Pennsylvania voters, with 58 percent of residents saying\u00a0they favor ending cannabis prohibition<\/a>\u00a0in a survey released in April.<\/p>\n Another poll released in May found that a majority of voters in the state also\u00a0support decriminalizing all currently illicit drugs<\/a>.<\/p>\n Top Mexican Senator Lays Out Next Steps For National Marijuana Legalization<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of Max Pixel<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post GOP Pennsylvania Senator With Federal Law Enforcement Background To File Marijuana Legalization Bill<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
A Republican Pennsylvania senator and former federal law enforcement agent announced on Monday that he will be filing a bill to legalize marijuana in the state\u2014and he\u2019s asking his colleagues to join him in the effort. Sen. Mike Regan (R), who chairs a key committee with jurisdiction over law enforcementContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":50295,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50294"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50294"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50294\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50296,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50294\/revisions\/50296"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: GOP Pennsylvania Senator With Federal Law Enforcement Background To File Marijuana Legalization Bill<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"