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The Pennsylvania House of Representatives has approved a bill meant to strengthen safety standards and oversight of the state\u2019s medical marijuana program<\/a> as lawmakers separately work to advance adult-use legalization.<\/p>\n On Monday, the chamber passed the medical cannabis legislation from House Health Committee Chairman Dan Frankel (D), a key advocate for marijuana reform in the legislature, in a 194-8 vote.<\/p>\n While Pennsylvania\u2019s medical cannabis program was enacted nearly a decade ago, lawmakers say the new measure, which now heads to the Senate, is necessary to improve testing compliance, product audits and lab inspections, among other aspects of the industry.<\/p>\n An earlier version of the proposal passed the House in a 196-6 vote last session.<\/p>\n \u201cThis legislation will help ensure that testing labs remain independent, transparent and accountable, so that we can prevent the types of issues that have undermined patient trust in other states,\u201d Frankel said in a press release on Monday.<\/p>\n Today, an overwhelming bipartisan majority of the House passed my bill that would bolster oversight of medical marijuana labs. If it\u2019s made in PA and sold in PA, it should meet Pennsylvania\u2019s standards for safety \u2013 period. \u2014 State Rep. Dan Frankel (@RepDanFrankel) March 17, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n The bill<\/a> is largely responsive to concerns expressed in a series of hearings in the Health Committee that the sponsor chairs. Experts have testified on issues such as inaccurate product labeling and contamination of marijuana products in other states programs.<\/p>\n If enacted, Frankel\u2019s bill would require the state Department of Health to provide more stringent lab testing, monitor cannabis products\u2019 potency and purity and enhance reporting requirements to ensure that safety standards are met for patients.<\/p>\n \u201cThe availability of medical marijuana has brought relief and healing to hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians since 2018, when dispensaries first opened their doors, and those patients deserve to know what they\u2019re getting,\u201d Frankel said<\/a>. \u201cThis is about ensuring they have the same level of confidence in medical marijuana as they do in any other prescribed treatment.\u201d<\/p>\n In opening remarks ahead of Monday\u2019s floor vote, the lawmaker stressed that \u201cone of the core promises of our medical marijuana program is safety.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThese products help thousands of Pennsylvanians manage chronic pain, battle cancer and give children with epilepsy a chance for a better life,\u201d he said. \u201cPatients and families trust that when they pick up their prescription, it meets the highest safety standards. But here\u2019s the reality: Even in regulated markets, that trust can be misplaced. And we know from other states that the very labs meant to ensure safety can be the problem.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe have an opportunity to get ahead of these issues before they become our issues,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The bill\u2019s advancement out of the House comes amid heightened interest within the legislature over the prospect of legalizing marijuana for adult use, which Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) called for again as part of his latest budget request.<\/p>\n In a video interview released on Monday, the\u00a0governor emphasized that the state is \u201closing out\u201d to others that have already enacted the reform<\/a>, while maintaining a policy that\u2019s enriched the illicit market.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s an issue of freedom and liberty. I mean, if folks want to smoke, they should be able to do so in a safe and legal way,\u201d he said. \u201cWe should shut down the black market\u2014and, by the way, every state around us is doing it. Pennsylvanians are driving to those other states and paying taxes in those other states.\u201d<\/p>\n Frankel and Rep. Rick Krajewski (D) also announced in December that they plan to file adult-use legalization legislation, emphasizing that there\u2019s a \u201cmoral obligation\u201d to repair harms of criminalization<\/a>\u00a0while also raising revenue as neighboring state markets mature.<\/p>\n Frankel said sponsors hope for a vote on the bill \u201csometime early spring,\u201d though questions remain as to whether the legislature would be willing to get behind the push to end cannabis prohibition, especially through the state-run sales model he is proposing.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Pennsylvania\u2019s Republican attorney general recently said\u00a0he wants to be a \u201cvoice for potential public safety risks\u201d<\/a> of enacting the governor\u2019s proposal\u2014though he said his office would be ready to enforce the new law if lawmakers did vote to pass it.<\/p>\n The state\u2019s agriculture secretary separately told lawmakers that he\u2019s fully confident that his department is in a\u00a0\u201creally good\u201d position to oversee an adult-use marijuana program<\/a>\u00a0if lawmakers act.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, last month, top Pennsylvania police and health officials told lawmakers\u00a0they are prepared to implement marijuana legalization<\/a>\u00a0if the legislature moves forward with the reform\u2014and that they stand ready to work together as the details of legislation to achieve it are crafted.<\/p>\n Separately, amid the growing calls for marijuana legalization in Pennsylvania,\u00a0a GOP state senator said prohibition has been a \u201cdisaster,\u201d<\/a>\u00a0and a regulated sales model for cannabis\u2014similar to how alcohol and tobacco are handled\u2014could serve as an effective alternative.<\/p>\n Voters are ready to see that policy change,\u00a0according to a poll released last month<\/a>.<\/p>\n The survey, commissioned by the advocacy group ResponsiblePA, found that nearly 7 in 10 voters in the state support the reform\u2014including a majority of Republicans. And 63 percent want to see the legislature enact the reform this year, rather than delaying it.<\/p>\n A Republican Pennsylvania senator also recently\u00a0defended the push to legalize and regulate marijuana<\/a>, calling it \u201cthe most conservative stance\u201d on the issue.<\/p>\n \u2014 While Shapiro once again included a proposal to enact cannabis legalization in his latest budget request, there\u2019s been mixed feedback from legislators\u2014some of whom want to see the governor more proactively come to the table to discuss possible pathways for reform and others skeptical about the possibility of advancing the issue this session.<\/p>\n Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Scott Martin (R), for example, said last month\u00a0that he doesn\u2019t \u201csee any path whatsoever\u201d<\/a>\u00a0to enacting legalization in line with the governor\u2019s plan.<\/p>\n At the same time, the state secretary for the Department of Revenue has predicted that Shapiro\u2019s proposal could be passed during the current budget cycle, indicating that he feels reform could start to be implemented within months.<\/p>\n House Majority Leader Matt Bradford (D), meanwhile, said following the governor\u2019s budget speech that \u201cthere is real diversity of opinions among our members,\u201d likely referencing split perspectives on regulatory models, with some lawmakers pushing for a state-run cannabis program.<\/p>\n He also said recently that he feels\u00a0the time is ripe to advance marijuana reform this session<\/a>, saying \u201cit strikes me as abdicating our responsibility to protect our communities and our children, and at the same time, we are losing revenue that is going to go into our neighboring states.\u201d<\/p>\n Key lawmakers have expressed\u00a0skepticism about the governor\u2019s ability to see through the cannabis reform<\/a>\u00a0he\u2019s proposing, however.<\/p>\n \u201cThe governor needs to lead on something. If he wants something done, he needs to lead on it,\u201d Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward (R) said. \u201cHe can\u2019t throw an idea out there\u2014which he did last year\u2014and say, \u2018Let the legislature figure it out. I\u2019ll sign it. Then I\u2019ll go do press conferences all over the state.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n The House minority leader was also asked about the prospect of enacting various of the governor\u2019s budget proposals, including marijuana. And he said while he\u2019s \u201cnot going to speak for the governor,\u201d there\u2019s \u201cone person that has the ability to bring those deals together\u2014and that is the governor.\u201d<\/p>\n He referenced recent remarks from Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R) who said\u00a0there are logistical challenges to advancing legalization<\/a>\u00a0that he\u2019s unsure lawmakers will be able to overcome.<\/p>\n The feedback from GOP lawmakers is reminiscent of earlier criticism from the caucus about the governor, who they\u2019ve claimed has\u00a0made the call for reform without meaningfully engaging with the legislature<\/a>\u00a0about how to get it done.<\/p>\n The Republican chair of a key Senate committee recently said he\u2019s expecting to take up legislation this year that would make Pennsylvania the 25th in the U.S. to legalize adult-use marijuana. He also thinks that\u00a0more of his GOP colleagues could get on board with the reform<\/a>\u00a0soon than have in the past.<\/p>\n While many legalization advocates and observers think Pennsylvania is among the most likely states to pass a recreational marijuana law this session, the devil is in the details. One lawmaker has floated a\u00a0relatively simple bill to decriminalize personal possession<\/a>, while two others plan to introduce\u00a0more sweeping legislation that would legalize through a state-run system of stores<\/a>.<\/p>\n Sen. Dan Laughlin (R) last spring introduced a bill meant to\u00a0remove state barriers to medical marijuana patients carrying firearms<\/a>. While it didn\u2019t move forward, the lawmaker said in the recent interview that he believes political support for legalization more broadly has been building.<\/p>\n The senator said an event last May that the state is \u201cgetting close\u201d to legalizing marijuana, but\u00a0the job will only get done if House and Senate leaders sit down with the governor and \u201cwork it out.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n A separate decriminalization measure, meanwhile, from Pennsylvania Rep. Danilo Burgos (D), would\u00a0make simple possession of cannabis a summary offense punishable by a $100 fine without the threat of jail time<\/a>. Currently, low-level possession is considered a misdemeanor, carrying a penalty of up to 30 days in jail, a maximum $500 fine or both.<\/p>\n Additionally, in September, bipartisan Reps. Aaron Kaufer (R) and Kinkead\u00a0formally introduced a bipartisan marijuana legalization bill<\/a>, alongside 15 other cosponsors.<\/p>\n In July, the governor said his administration and lawmakers would\u00a0\u201ccome back and continue to fight\u201d for marijuana legalization<\/a>\u00a0and other policy priorities that were omitted from budget legislation he signed into law that month.<\/p>\n As for medical marijuana, the governor in October signed a\u00a0bill to correct an omission in a law that unintentionally excluded dispensaries<\/a>\u00a0from state-level tax relief for the medical marijuana industry.<\/p>\n About three months after the legislature\u00a0approved the underlying budget bill that Shapiro signed<\/a>\u00a0containing tax reform provisions as a partial workaround to a federal ban on tax deductions for cannabis businesses, the Pennsylvania legislature passed corrective legislation.<\/p>\n Separately, at a Black Cannabis Week event hosted recently by the Diasporic Alliance for Cannabis Opportunities (DACO) in October, Street and Reps. Chris Rabb (D), Amen Brown (D), Darisha Parker (D) and Napoleon Nelson (D) joined activists to\u00a0discuss their legislative priorities and motivations behind advancing legalization<\/a>\u00a0in the Keystone State.<\/p>\n Other lawmakers have also\u00a0emphasized the urgency of legalizing as soon as possible given regional dynamics<\/a>, while signaling that legislators are close to aligning House and Senate proposals.<\/p>\n As for cannabis and gun ownership, Laughlin had been looking at the issue for more than a year before introducing last year\u2019s bill,\u00a0writing last February to the state\u2019s acting police commissioner<\/a>\u00a0to \u201cstrongly encourage\u201d he review a federal ruling that the\u00a0U.S. government\u2019s ban on gun ownership by people who use marijuana is unconstitutional<\/a>.<\/p>\n Since then, further federal court cases have questioned the constitutionality of the federal firearm ban. A federal judge in El Paso, for example, recently ruled that the ongoing ban on gun ownership by habitual marijuana users was\u00a0unconstitutional in the case of a defendant who earlier pleaded guilty to the criminal charge<\/a>. The court allowed the man to withdraw the plea and ordered that the indictment against him be dismissed.<\/p>\n New York Opens Applications For Grant Program To Help Marijuana Dispensaries Run By People Harmed By Criminalization<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n The post Pennsylvania House Passes Bill To Strengthen Medical Marijuana Program Oversight And Testing Requirements<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
The Pennsylvania House of Representatives has approved a bill meant to strengthen safety standards and oversight of the state\u2019s medical marijuana program as lawmakers separately work to advance adult-use legalization. On Monday, the chamber passed the medical cannabis legislation from House Health Committee Chairman Dan Frankel (D), a key advocateContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":80634,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81,126],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80633"}],"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=80633"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80633\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80635,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80633\/revisions\/80635"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
\nhttps:\/\/t.co\/f7dYRVltDg<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/BJMAP7DSWS<\/a><\/p>\n
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\nRead More: Pennsylvania House Passes Bill To Strengthen Medical Marijuana Program Oversight And Testing Requirements<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"