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A top Pennsylvania House lawmaker says Democrats are ready to pass a marijuana legalization bill this session, but that the party \u201cwill need Republican support\u201d to get the job done\u2014adding that it will be a \u201cheavy lift.\u201d<\/p>\n
At an event organized by the progressive non-profit Represent PA on Tuesday, House Speaker Joanna McClinton (D) said that legalizing and regulating cannabis sales is one way the state can raise revenue, as well as imposing a tax on certain gambling games.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost House Democrats support [marijuana legalization], though we will need Republican support for passing a bill this massive,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be a heavy lift.\u201d<\/p>\n
She added<\/a> that the reform \u201ccould be a new economic opportunity\u2014from farmers to [dispensaries] and those who put together edibles.\u201d<\/p>\n While Democrats narrowly control the Pennsylvania House, there\u2019s a GOP majority in the Senate, so McClinton stressed that there\u2019s an open question about whether that chamber will go along with the reform, which Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) also included in his latest budget proposal.<\/p>\n \u201cNearly half of U.S. states have already legalized recreational marijuana, including nearly all of our neighbors,\u201d McClinton separately told The Daily Pennsylvanian. \u201cRight now, many Pennsylvanians are simply driving to New Jersey or Maryland to purchase marijuana legally.\u201d<\/p>\n While polls have shown bipartisan support for legalization among voters, the policy change has consistently stalled in the legislature, owing in large part to GOP opposition. But not all Republican members are against the reform\u2014and one recently said she felt her party should seize the \u201copportunity to snatch\u201d the issue from Democrats<\/a>.<\/p>\n Rep. Rick Krajewski (D)\u2014who announced in December his intent to file a legalization measure<\/a> alongside House Health Committee Chair Dan Frankel (D)\u2014said the policy would provide for \u201cmore responsible usage\u201d of cannabis, compared to the status quo that\u2019s left adults either buying from the illicit market or traveling across state lines to get regulated products.<\/p>\n \u201cIn terms of public health, when people buy stuff on the street or from smoke shops, they don\u2019t know what else is in the product or the potency amount,\u201d he said. \u201cLegalization allows us to have protections over products.\u201d<\/p>\n Krajewski also defended his and Frankel\u2019s proposal to enact legalization through a state-run retailers\u2014a novel regulatory model for marijuana that departs from what other lawmakers and the governor have called for in the past.<\/p>\n \u201cWith the model of state stores, we would get hundreds of millions of dollars more in state revenue because we would have proceeds from tax revenue and sales revenue,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a clearly polarized issue and Pennsylvania is currently a purple state,\u201d he added. \u201cGetting any kind of legislative process moving has been difficult because some people aren\u2019t even willing to engage on it.\u201d<\/p>\n Rep. Jordan Harris (D) separately made the case in an interview<\/a> with The Daily Pennsylvanian that legalization would benefit the states farmers, arguing that Pennsylvania\u2019s agriculture community \u201cshould be growing and processing and reaping the benefits here within the state.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf we get this to the governor\u2019s desk, I think surrounding states will see a decrease in their revenue because that money will be staying in Pennsylvania,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat folks need to understand is that we have had medical marijuana in Pennsylvania for quite some time now and we have not seen a steep increase in the need for police or anything like that,\u201d he added said. \u201cSo people\u2019s mindset shouldn\u2019t be \u2018We\u2019re flipping a switch from a dry state to a legalized state.’\u201d<\/p>\n Frankel, for his part, said recently that he feels it\u2019s feasible that the legislature could advance a legalization bill as part of the budget reconciliation process that must wrap up by the end of June.<\/p>\n The governor has similarly indicated that the reform could advance on that timeline. But there are still open questions about what, if any, cannabis legislation could garner the necessary consensus for enactment.<\/p>\n Meanwhile last month, the Pennsylvania House approved a separate bill sponsored by Frankel that\u2019s meant to strengthen safety standards and oversight of the state\u2019s medical marijuana program<\/a>\u00a0as lawmakers work to advance adult-use legalization.<\/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 \u2014 Separately, in a video interview released last month, the governor emphasized that the state is \u201closing out\u201d to others that have already enacted adult-use legalization<\/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 Pennsylvania\u2019s Republican attorney general recently said\u00a0he wants to be a \u201cvoice for potential public safety risks\u201d<\/a>\u00a0of 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, in February, top Pennsylvania police and health officials told lawmakers they 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 Amid the growing calls for marijuana legalization in Pennsylvania, a 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 Maryland Bill To Let Adults Make Marijuana Edibles And Concentrates At Home Heads To The Governor<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n The post Top Pennsylvania Lawmaker Says Democrats Are Ready To Pass Marijuana Legalization Bill, But \u2018We Will Need Republican Support\u2019<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
A top Pennsylvania House lawmaker says Democrats are ready to pass a marijuana legalization bill this session, but that the party \u201cwill need Republican support\u201d to get the job done\u2014adding that it will be a \u201cheavy lift.\u201d At an event organized by the progressive non-profit Represent PA on Tuesday, HouseContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":80762,"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\/80761"}],"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=80761"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80761\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80763,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80761\/revisions\/80763"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nRead More: Top Pennsylvania Lawmaker Says Democrats Are Ready To Pass Marijuana Legalization Bill, But \u2018We Will Need Republican Support\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"