Push Afoot To Legalize Recreational Marijuana In PA

HARRISBURG, PA — Two state lawmakers from Pittsburgh want to weed out restrictions to legalizing recreational marijuana for Pennsylvania adults.

Democratic representatives Jake Wheatley and Dan Frankel plan to introduce legislation that would permit adults 21 and older to possess as much as 28.38 grams of cannabis and 5 grams of a cannabis product in solid, liquid or concentrated form for personal use.

"Our legislative proposal would lay the foundation for enhancing social and economic equity for individuals and communities that have been and continue to be adversely impacted by the criminalization of marijuana and the aggressive enforcement of simple marijuana possession
laws in marginalized communities," Wheatley wrote in a recent memo to colleagues.

"The proposal would provide for direct participation in the cannabis industry by individuals who live in these communities and by small diverse and disadvantaged businesses."

Under the pair's plan, a seven-member legislatively appointed panel, the Cannabis Regulatory Control Board, would oversee the marijuana industry across the state. Initially, the board would approve licenses for medical marijuana organizations under the Medical Marijuana Act; the panel also would approve licenses for cannabis cultivator, processor, micro-business, retailer and transporter applicants.

The state and local municipalities potentially could recognize a financial boon from recreational marijuana sales.

Under the pending bill, the state would impose a 13 percent cannabis excise tax on retail sales; a seven percent cultivator and processor privilege tax; a municipal marijuana sales tax of as much as two percent; and a tax of as much as two percent on the sale or transfer of cannabis by a cultivator, processor or anyone else engaged in a regulated activity to a marijuana retailer.

Wheatley suggested that cannabis could become a significant agricultural crop in Pennsylvania and recommended the Department of Agriculture give priority for growing it to disadvantaged farmer-owned small businesses.

Medical marijuana was legalized in Pennsylvania in 2016. Legislators have resisted doing the same for recreational use, although neighboring states such as New York and New Jersey have done so recently.

Legalizing recreational marijuana here already has the support of Pennsylvania lieutenant governor and U.S. Senate candidate John Fetterman. He surveyed residents on the topic in each of the state's 67 counties in 2019 and suggested in a report to Gov. Tom Wolf that as many as 70 percent of people favor legalization. In a December 2020 opinion piece in The Washington Post, Fetterman suggested it was absurd not to legalize cannabis in Pennsylvania.

"In Pennsylvania and in most states, it is perfectly legal to wake up in the morning, smoke a carton of Marlboros, chug a fifth of vodka, take a pinch of Copenhagen, pop an OxyContin and gamble away your entire life savings in a state-approved casino," he wrote. "But get caught with marijuana, and you’re branded a criminal for life."