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A Republican Pennsylvania senator says he will soon be introducing a bill to give independent, in-state medical marijuana growers a chance to sell directly to patients\u2014a reform he says is much needed amid increased industry consolidation.<\/p>\n
In a cosponsorship memo circulated last week, Sen. Chris Gebhard (R) said that his legislation would create a new permitting process, allowing any Pennsylvania-based \u201cindependent\u201d cannabis grower\/processor to open dispensaries as vertically integrated businesses.<\/p>\n
Pennsylvania\u2019s medical marijuana law currently says that only 25 businesses can be licensed for marijuana growing and processing, and only five of those licensees can sell directly to patients through vertically integrated dispensaries.<\/p>\n
Gebhard said that the Department of Health\u2019s currently permitting rules have \u201ccreated an unfair system for getting products to patients.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe most evenhanded solution to this problem would be to issue two permits to all the independent Pennsylvania based grower\/processors who do not currently have one,\u201d he wrote<\/a> to colleagues. \u201cThis will create a free and fair market and will allow these businesses to operate on the same playing field as their competitors.\u201d<\/p>\n While Pennsylvania has yet to enact adult-use legalization, there\u2019s a growing expectation that the state will eventually follow others in the region and begin allowing recreational sales. Some businesses are feeling the strain as anticipation about the policy change builds, especially as wholesale marijuana prices drop and multi-state operators continue to acquire smaller businesses.<\/p>\n Pennsylvania\u2019s cannabis law additionally says businesses with a retail permit can\u2019t operate more than 15 dispensaries, but this trend of company acquisitions has given certain stakeholders more influence in the industry.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for the health department told<\/a> The Tribune-Democrat in July that while the state\u2019s medical cannabis law does set permit limits, regulators can\u2019t block equity transfers by permit-holders, including \u201cthose used by multi-state operators in the medical marijuana industry.\u201d<\/p>\n Gebhard\u2019s proposal would seek to mitigate that economic pressure for independent growers and processors by giving them the option to obtain a secondary permit to sell the product they grow, rather than sell to licensed distributors.<\/p>\n \u2014 Marijuana policy has also become a key campaign issue in Pennsylvania ahead of the November midterm elections, especially with respect to races for governor and a U.S. Senate seat.<\/p>\n Gov. Tom Wolf (D) came out in support of legalization earlier in his term\u2014a decision partly influenced by the advocacy of his lieutenant governor, John Fetterman (D)\u2014and has included a call to implement the reform in his budget proposal this year.<\/p>\n Now the race to replace Wolf<\/a> is between pro-legalization Attorney General Josh Shapiro, the Democratic nominee, and state Sen. Doug Mastriano (R), who is strongly against the reform, calling legalization a \u201cstupid idea\u201d that has negatively impacted other states.<\/p>\n Fetterman, for his part, is currently running for Senate against the TV personality known as Dr. Oz. And despite support for cannabis legalization standing at 58 percent<\/a> in Pennsylvania\u2014and despite Oz\u2019s own past comments about the need to fundamentally change federal marijuana laws<\/a>\u2014the Republican nominee has attacked the state official over his cannabis advocacy.<\/p>\n While both Wolf and Fetterman remain in office in Harrisburg, however, they\u2019re continuing to work to right the wrongs of prohibition. Last week, they announced the launch of a month-long marijuana pardon project<\/a> to expedite relief for people with low-level cannabis convictions on their records.<\/p>\n Also, President Joe Biden and Fetterman briefly discussed marijuana policy reform<\/a> during a meeting near Pittsburgh this month. That followed a statement from the lieutenant governor\u2019s campaign calling on the president to use his executive authority to federally decriminalize cannabis<\/a>.<\/p>\n (The White House was asked about the Fetterman\u2019s request, but said that the administration has nothing new to announce at this point<\/a>.)<\/p>\n Prior to Wolf endorsing marijuana legalization, the lieutenant governor also led a statewide listening tour<\/a>\u00a0to hear what residents had to say about the policy proposal. He touted his role in that tour on his Senate campaign website.<\/p>\n He also talked about his work to \u201clegalize weed for jobs, justice, veterans, farmers and revenue\u201d in a fundraising email early this year.<\/p>\n Fetterman previously said that farmers in his state could\u00a0grow better marijuana than people in New Jersey<\/a>\u2014and that was one reason why Pennsylvania should expeditiously reform its cannabis laws.<\/p>\n In 2020, he hosted a virtual forum where he got\u00a0advice on how to effectively implement a cannabis system<\/a>\u00a0from the lieutenant governors of Illinois and Michigan, which have enacted legalization.<\/p>\n The governor, who signed\u00a0a medical cannabis expansion bill last year<\/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>.<\/p>\n Last year,\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 an ongoing Expedited Review Program for Non-Violent Marijuana-Related Offenses.<\/p>\n More recently, the governor signed a bill<\/a> that includes provisions to protect banks and insurers<\/a>\u00a0in the state\u00a0that work with licensed medical marijuana businesses.<\/p>\n Missouri Appeals Court Keeps Marijuana Legalization On Ballot, But State Supreme Court Could Make Final Decision<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The post GOP Pennsylvania Senator Previews Bill To Give Independent Marijuana Growers Permits To Sell Directly To Patients<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
A Republican Pennsylvania senator says he will soon be introducing a bill to give independent, in-state medical marijuana growers a chance to sell directly to patients\u2014a reform he says is much needed amid increased industry consolidation. In a cosponsorship memo circulated last week, Sen. Chris Gebhard (R) said that hisContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":57136,"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\/57135"}],"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=57135"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57135\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57137,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57135\/revisions\/57137"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nRead More: GOP Pennsylvania Senator Previews Bill To Give Independent Marijuana Growers Permits To Sell Directly To Patients<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"