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A Pennsylvania GOP senator says the state is \u201cgetting close\u201d to legalizing marijuana, but the job will only get done if House and Senate leaders sit down with the governor and \u201cwork it out.\u201d<\/p>\n
At a rally organized by ResponsiblePA on Tuesday, Sens. Dan Laughlin (R), Sharif Street (D) and other champions of cannabis reform discussed the push for legalization, regional dynamics and the federal rescheduling action.<\/p>\n
Laughlin described himself as \u201cone of the most unlikely advocates for legalizing adult-use cannabis\u201d who was \u201cas anti-pot as you could be\u201d during his early career in the Senate. But at a picnic one year, a conversation with his son led him to reverse course.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was advocating that we should legalize adult-use cannabis, and I rolled my eyes at him. And he said that, \u2018I can make a text and have cannabis delivered to the house here probably in 20 minutes. It\u2019s faster than Amazon,’\u201d the senator recalled. \u201cI was like, \u2018jeez, I guess we\u2019ve reached that point in society.\u2019 That was kind of a pivotal moment for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
The senator, who filed a legalization bill alongside Street last year, said it\u2019s \u201cridiculous\u201d that cannabis is legally accessible in the state\u2019s existing medical marijuana program but criminalized outside of that context.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we\u2019re getting close,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I will say this\u2014I say it respectfully\u2014I don\u2019t think we\u2019re going to get this done, though, until the leaders of the House and Senate sit down with the governor of Pennsylvania and work it out.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to work it out, and that doesn\u2019t happen in a vacuum,\u201d Laughlin said, adding that while he understands Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) has again included legalization in his budget proposal this year<\/a>, \u201cyou need to sit down with House and Senate leadership and try and work out a package where we can get this done.\u201d<\/p>\n Street, for his part, said the politics around marijuana reform are \u201caligning.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s bipartisan support\u2014bicameral support as well,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s the time to do it because the states around us have already moved forward. It\u2019s the time to do it because even the federal government is signaling rescheduling. And if we delay once again, we\u2019ll put Pennsylvania industry behind.\u201d<\/p>\n He said that\u2019ll be especially true if the federal government authorizes states to engage in interstate cannabis commerce. That wouldn\u2019t happen with rescheduling, but there\u2019s been talk of updating federal enforcement guidance that could theoretically address the issue.<\/p>\n Street added that other provisions of legalization legislation such as expungements for prior cannabis convictions should be non-controversial.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are some debates, but we need to debate those issues and to reach consensus and we need to move forward,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Warren County, Pennsylvania District Attorney Robert Greene, a registered medical cannabis patient in the state,\u00a0 also spoke at Tuesday\u2019s rally. In January, Greene filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking to overturn a ban preventing medical marijuana patients from buying and possessing firearms<\/a>.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, last week the governor\u2019s office said that the Biden administration\u2019s move to federally reschedule marijuana \u201cadds support\u201d for an effort to legalize cannabis in Pennsylvania<\/a>.<\/p>\n Two Pennsylvania House panels held a joint hearing to discuss marijuana legalization last month<\/a>, with multiple lawmakers asking the state\u2019s top liquor regulator about the prospect of having that agency run cannabis shops.<\/p>\n \u2014 Last month, members of the House Health Committee had a conversation centered on social justice and equity considerations for reform<\/a>.<\/p>\n That took place days after Rep. Amen Brown (D)\u00a0filed a marijuana legalization bill that he described as \u201cgrounded in safety and social equity.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n At a prior meeting in March, members focused on\u00a0criminal justice implications of prohibition and the potential benefits of reform<\/a>.<\/p>\n At another\u00a0hearing in February, members looked at the industry perspective<\/a>, with multiple stakeholders from cannabis growing, dispensing and testing businesses, as well as clinical registrants, testifying.<\/p>\n At the subcommittee\u2019s previous cannabis meeting in December, members\u00a0heard testimony and asked questions about\u00a0various elements of marijuana oversight<\/a>, including promoting social equity and business opportunities, laboratory testing and public versus private operation of a state-legal cannabis industry.<\/p>\n And during the panel\u2019s first meeting late last year, Frankel said that state-run stores are \u201ccertainly an option\u201d he\u2019s considering for Pennsylvania, similar to what New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (R)\u00a0recommended for that state last year<\/a>, though a state commission later\u00a0shied away from that plan<\/a>.<\/p>\n The cannabis proposal the Brown filed in the House last month is an identical\u00a0companion to a bipartisan Senate cannabis legalization measure<\/a>\u00a0that was introduced last year.<\/p>\n Congressional Researchers Say It\u2019s \u2018Likely\u2019 Marijuana Will Be Rescheduled, But It Wouldn\u2019t Fix Federal-State Policy Gap<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of Mike Latimer.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Pennsylvania GOP Senator Says State Is \u2018Getting Close\u2019 To Legalizing Marijuana, But Lawmakers Must \u2018Work It Out\u2019 With Governor<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
A Pennsylvania GOP senator says the state is \u201cgetting close\u201d to legalizing marijuana, but the job will only get done if House and Senate leaders sit down with the governor and \u201cwork it out.\u201d At a rally organized by ResponsiblePA on Tuesday, Sens. Dan Laughlin (R), Sharif Street (D) andContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":75096,"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\/75095"}],"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=75095"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75095\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":75097,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75095\/revisions\/75097"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nRead More: Pennsylvania GOP Senator Says State Is \u2018Getting Close\u2019 To Legalizing Marijuana, But Lawmakers Must \u2018Work It Out\u2019 With Governor<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"