Legalizing adult recreational marijuana faces uphill battle
Pennsylvania is facing an uphill legislative struggle to legalize adult recreational marijuana use despite what appears to be growing public support for bringing cannabis out of the shadows.
Some Republicans in a party that controls the state’s House and Senate are calling for a timeout on the initiative, including Sen. Camera Bartolotta of Carroll Township.
“We need more research on medicinal before jumping into recreational,” said Bartolotta.
The debate has heated up as Lt. Gov. John Fetterman continues his “listening tour” of all of Pennsylvania’s counties to gather opinions on legalizing the drug for personal consumption.
“I think it’s an important conversation to have and an important public policy,” Fetterman said in early March, when the Observer-Reporter in Washington and Herald-Standard in Uniontown teamed up to produce a three-part series on the topic.
As for public support for legalizing pot, the latest March 25 poll from Franklin & Marshall College showed that 59% of the respondents supported legalizing marijuana in Pennsylvania.
G. Terry Madonna, director of the college’s Center for Politics & Public Affairs, said most of the support came from millennials, Democrats and Philadelphia residents.
The poll results jumped by 17% from when the college first asked the question in 2006, Madonna said.
“The millennials overwhelmingly support legalization. There are 80 million of them nationwide, and eventually they will rule the roost,” Madonna said.
The poll also indicated that 39% of registered Republicans support legalization, he said.
Meanwhile, Fetterman said, the most-heard opinions on the tour from supporters of legalization have involved the “positive impact marijuana has had in their lives and removing the stigma” associated with cannabis use.
Fetterman has said he is not a marijuana user, that he tried it once in 1999 at a Burning Man festival.
“I’m not going to use it if we make it legal tomorrow, just like I’m not going to go out and buy a bottle of Jack Daniels,” Fetterman said.
The opposition on the tour has mainly focused on cannabis being a gateway drug to opioid use and it falling into the hands of children, Fetterman said.
Julia Pansino of Canonsburg was among the first to speak in support of legalization when Fetterman’s tour stopped Feb. 18 in Washington.
She said young adults who were treated with conventional drugs for mental health issues while growing up have been finding out on social media that marijuana can also treat their symptoms.
“The medication turned them into zombies,” said Pansino, 23, who works as a graphic designer.
“Health insurance doesn’t cover (marijuana),” she said.
It costs $250 to get a prescription for medical marijuana, said state Sen. Daylin Leach, who plans to co-sponsor a bill that would legalize adult-use recreational marijuana.
Leach, D-Montgomery County, said the drug eventually will become legal in the state even if his bill languishes in committee.
“Prohibition is dying,” Leach said. “Enlightenment is coming.”
Bartolotta said she doubted that Fetterman’s listening tour has changed many minds about legalizing recreational cannabis among Republicans in Harrisburg.
“Each member in the Senate has been listening closely,” she said.
As of today, Fetterman should have visited 38 of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties, said Christina Kauffman, his press secretary. The tour is expected to wrap up in late May or early June, at which time Fetterman is to draft a report on his findings for Gov. Tom Wolf, she said.
About 75% of those who have attended his meetings have been in support of legalizing marijuana, Kauffman said. About 20 percent opposed the plan, while 5% were undecided.
- Allow private use of cannabis by those who are 21 and older
- All people to grow up to six marijuana plants in their homes for personal use
- Automatically expunge prior criminal convictions for cannabis-related convictions and commute such sentences
- Require growers to comply with stricter regulations as production increases
- Create an incubator to provide free training to Pennsylvanians who want to start and run a business cannabis business
- Allow Pennsylvania’s colleges and universities and their students to grow and process marijuana to teach the science and business end of the business
- Preserve the medical marijuana protocol, giving current permitees not statutory advantages or disadvantages should the decide to enter the recreational-use business
- Direct the bulk of the tax revenues raised by recreational cannabis to public education and allowing districts to decide how much of their portions to invest in students or real estate tax relief
(Source: state Sens. Daylin Leach and Sharif Street)