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Pennsylvania will soon be mostly surrounded by a sea of states that have or are about to legalize the sale of recreational marijuana.
Ohio voters’ passage of a legalization referendum called Issue 2 on Tuesday’s ballot, makes Ohio the second neighboring state, along with Delaware, to adopt the change this year, joining New Jersey and New York and leaving only West Virginia without legal marijuana.
The momentum on recreational marijuana – now legal in 24 states – gives rise to the question: Can Pennsylvania continue to resist this growing movement?
“Pennsylvania dollars keep leaving Pennsylvania, flowing into other states depriving the commonwealth of tax revenue while it deprives its citizens of safe affordable legal cannabis,” said Steve Schain, a New Jersey-based cannabis attorney with Smart Counsel. “It’s a victim of infantile bickering among legislators which may have lost touch with their citizenry.”
But opponents say Ohio’s decision resonates with them like motherly advice: Just because everyone else is doing it doesn’t mean you should too.
“It does not sway me,” said state Rep. Kathy Rapp of Crawford County, the ranking Republican on the House Health Committee, who is an ardent opponent of recreational cannabis. “This is not good for the people of Pennsylvania regardless of the revenue because there’s always the downside of rehabbing mental health issues especially for our youth regarding marijuana.”
The House committee last week held a hearing to begin collecting input for legislation expected to be introduced next year. Last session, the Senate Law and Justice Committee held a series of hearings on the issue but no vote was taken on a bill.
Proponent Sen. Sharif Street, D-Philadelphia, said, “I’m cautiously optimistic Pennsylvania will get it done in 2024.”
Polls show a plurality of voters think the time has come for recreational marijuana to be added to the state’s now 8-year-old medical marijuana program.
A CBS News poll from last year found adult-use cannabis had the backing of 66% of voters. A Franklin & Marshall Poll in October 2021 that found it had 60% support, up from 22% in 2006.
Muhlenberg College Public Health Program’s poll last year showed it had support of just 50% of voters, down from 56% the prior year although pollsters said the difference fell within its plus or minus 6% margin of error.
Street said he believes Ohio’s move to legalize could nudge those poll numbers even higher.
“Now really almost every part of Pennsylvania is somewhat near a place where cannabis, recreational adult-use is already legal,” Street said. “So I think that will be persuasive because it means that we’re not really increasing accessibility. We are doing it to create greater opportunity for the potential revenue and for Pennsylvania businesses to engage in.”
Gov. Josh Shapiro has called for recreational marijuana legalization. His spokesman Manuel Bonder said Tuesday’s results in Ohio is “another reminder this is something we should get done in Pennsylvania.”
Bonder said the governor considers this a piece of unfinished business and is awaiting action in the legislature. He wants to see it take into consideration law enforcement’s perspective, encourage economic benefits for Pennsylvanians and address decriminalization and factor in public safety.
Rapp, however, said, “we cannot ensure the safety of our youth, our communities against the crimes of the marijuana industry. We don’t have enough law enforcement.”
“The pressures from the marijuana industry to create more addicts to high-potency marijuana will continue because they put profits over the well-being of children and families,” said Dan Bartkowiak, a spokesman for the conservative Pennsylvania Family Institute that opposes making adult-use cannabis legal.
“Its legalization for recreational use is still opposed by major health associations, and forcing its retail sale in our local communities should never be the only option pushed on Pennsylvania families,” he said.
Despite the opposition, the issue is building bipartisan support in Pennsylvania.
At least two Republican senators have publicly come out in support of joining the company of other states that have legalized it – Sens. Mike Regan of Cumberland/York counties, and Dan Laughlin of Erie County. Laughlin last summer introduced a recreational marijuana legalization bill with Street.
“I think states are getting tired of financing “Evil, Incorporated”, meaning the drug cartels,” said Regan, a former U.S. marshal. “They are realizing that billions of potential revenue dollars are leaving their states. Meanwhile, their residents are being exposed to an unsafe, potentially laced or toxic, unregulated product.”
Laughlin said a growing number of legislators have told him they agree with him “but they’re still afraid to support it because they think it’s going to harm them politically. But I don’t know how much longer Pennsylvania can continue to ignore what I consider to be the obvious.”
He said taxing and regulating the sale of marijuana ensures people can buy a safe product in a safe environment and not from “a black market drug dealer potentially putting themselves in harm’s way.”
Rep. Dan Frankel, D-Allegheny County, who chairs the House Health Committee, said he also sees more bipartisan support from lawmakers.
“They recognize it’s going to happen and want to have some input if it’s going to happen to address their concerns,” he said. “As we’re entering this conversation and developing a proposal for adult use, I think [Ohio’s legalizing it] adds to the momentum here in Pennsylvania to get something done. So we might as well join the parade because consumers in Pennsylvania are going to access it anyway.”
Jan Murphy may be reached at jmurphy@pennlive.com. Follow her on X at @JanMurphy.