Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) says marijuana legalization is \u201cinevitable.\u201d But yet another one of his home state\u2019s neighbors enacts the reform, he concedes that the path in Pennsylvania has proved more challenging amid GOP resistance to the \u201ccommon sense\u201d policy that\u2019s backed by the majority of voters.<\/p>\n
The senator\u2014who has long championed cannabis legalization and made it a key issue when he served as Pennsylvania\u2019s lieutenant governor\u2014spoke about the prospects of reform at the state and federal level in an interview with City & State Pennsylvania that was published on Monday.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s absolutely absurd\u2014how many states around Pennsylvania are we falling behind?\u201d Fetterman said, reflecting on Ohio\u2019s recent vote to legalize cannabis<\/a> at the ballot. \u201cI don\u2019t know why Republicans are opposing it, because the majority of their constituents want this. It shouldn\u2019t be that hard in Pennsylvania.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt just makes it more silly. It\u2019s just so simple and so easy\u2014just give people what they want. And again, make it safe, make it pure and make jobs,\u201d he said<\/a>. \u201cAll the benefits are going to the cartels, but now, it should be going to the state.\u201d<\/p>\n He drew parallels to tobacco and alcohol products, stressing that people should have the right to buy them in a regulated market where they\u2019re taxed and tested for quality, rather than having people resort to illicit market \u201cbathtub gin\u201d and the like.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are things that are so much more lethal and dangerous and addictive\u2014you don\u2019t have any of those issues with cannabis,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Fetterman said the issue is overwhelmingly bipartisan, as partly evidenced by his experience as Pennsylvania\u2019s lieutenant governor leading a listening tour across the state to discuss legalization.<\/p>\n \u201cWhether it was a red or a blue county, people were really respectful and it was a true conversation. We never once had pro-wrestling break out with people throwing chairs or anything like that,\u201d he said. \u201cI miss that and I think people appreciated having that conversation. I thought it was a great model too because we didn\u2019t leave anyone behind.\u201d<\/p>\n The senator said that Republican lawmakers are largely at fault for the continued prohibition on cannabis in states like Pennsylvania and at the federal level.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s always Republicans going against something that should be common sense and that a majority of people really want\u2014whether it\u2019s abortion or weed,\u201d he said. \u201cIn Pennsylvania, they\u2019re gumming it up and I suspect any national way of legalizing it will be gummed up by Republicans too. The truth is, it\u2019s going to be legal.\u201d<\/p>\n He added that, \u201cin states where it has been legalized, somehow the world hasn\u2019t spun off its axis. It wasn\u2019t pandemonium or cats and dogs living in sin.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLegalization is inevitable. Why not just get in front of it now in Pennsylvania and do the right thing? Four or five years ago, everyone thought I was weird or just a stoner because I believed that it was the right way to go. Republicans at the time said, \u2018We don\u2019t want this and the majority of people don\u2019t either.\u2019 We found out we actually do, and now, we have been lapped by New York, New Jersey, Maryland, D.C. and now Ohio.\u201d<\/p>\n In Pennsylvania, a House committee recently convened for an informational meeting to hear from experts about adult-use marijuana legalization<\/a>\u00a0as legislators chart a path for the reform, which the panel\u2019s chairman says may involve consideration of a state-run cannabis sales model.<\/p>\n Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) also weighed in this month on how voters in neighboring Ohio elected to legalize marijuana at the ballot. He said it serves as \u201canother reminder\u201d of the need to follow suit in the Keystone State<\/a>.<\/p>\n Fetterman was also asked about the ongoing administrative review into marijuana\u2019s scheduling under the Controlled Substance Act that President Joe Biden directed last year.<\/p>\n He pointed out that he and Biden previously discussed marijuana policy issues<\/a>, including the senator\u2019s prior work managing a state-level pardon program that saw more than 3,500 people apply<\/a> for relief from Pennsylvania\u2019s governor. About a year after his conversation with the president, Fetterman said that\u2019s when the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recommended that cannabis be rescheduled under federal law.<\/p>\n \u201cJoe is a man of his word,\u201d he said, describing the rescheduling recommendation a \u201ccommonsense acknowledgment of where it should go.\u201d<\/p>\n He also talked to City & State about his belief that legalization should be coupled with equity provisions\u2014namely \u201cmass expungement\u201d to ensure that those who have been most harmed under prohibition are able to participate in the legal market.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think anyone thinks your life should be messed up because you have some stupid weed charge, as long as it\u2019s nonviolent. And as lieutenant governor and head of the pardoning process, we got that process started,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s always astonishing when you have people in front of you who can\u2019t be a volunteer at their child\u2019s school, can\u2019t get a better job, can\u2019t get a loan because 12 years ago they got caught with a joint.\u201d<\/p>\n Since entering the Senate, Fetterman has also made a point of advocating for psychedelics reform<\/a>, arguing that psilocybin mushrooms could represent a \u201crevolution\u201d in mental health treatment and an economic \u201cboon\u201d for his home state of Pennsylvania, which he referred to as the \u201cmushroom capital of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n New Jersey Governor Is \u2018Very Much Open-Minded\u2019 To Legalizing Marijuana Home Grow, But Says Market Needs To Mature First<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of Flickr\/Gov. Tom Wolf<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Fetterman Says Pennsylvania Is Getting \u2018Lapped\u2019 On Marijuana Legalization By Nearby States Because GOP Opposes \u2018Common Sense\u2019 Policy<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) says marijuana legalization is \u201cinevitable.\u201d But yet another one of his home state\u2019s neighbors enacts the reform, he concedes that the path in Pennsylvania has proved more challenging amid GOP resistance to the \u201ccommon sense\u201d policy that\u2019s backed by the majority of voters. The senator\u2014who hasContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":0,"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\/70569"}],"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=70569"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70569\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":70570,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70569\/revisions\/70570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: Fetterman Says Pennsylvania Is Getting \u2018Lapped\u2019 On Marijuana Legalization By Nearby States Because GOP Opposes \u2018Common Sense\u2019 Policy<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"