Mar 29, 2016 3 min read

We have, thankfully, come a long way since the days when cheap exploitation films like “Reefer Madness,” “Assassin of Youth” and “Marihuana, Weed With Roots in Hell” tried to convince moviegoers marijuana would lead to perversion, insanity and homicide. It is now widely recognized, and has been for decades, that marijuana can provide relief for people suffering from such conditions as nerve pain, Crohn’s disease, nausea resulting from chemotherapy, muscle spasms caused by multiple sclerosis and more.

That it is less harmful than other drugs has been acknowledged by the growing number of states that have decriminalized marijuana’s recreational use, reducing the possession of a small amount to the equivalent of a minor traffic violation, and the number of states that have approved laws making it legal for residents to use marijuana for medical purposes. Pennsylvania is on the cusp of joining neighbors like Maryland, New York, New Jersey and Delaware in approving medical marijuana, after the commonwealth’s House of Representatives approved the medical use of marijuana earlier this month, following in the footsteps of the state Senate, which approved medical marijuana bills in 2014 and 2015. Gov. Tom Wolf said he supports it and will sign it.

The law would allow residents to purchase marijuana from a dispensary after they have been certified to have one of 17 conditions, ranging from Parkinson’s disease to post-traumatic stress disorder, multiple sclerosis and glaucoma. Licenses would be granted by the state to 25 growers and processors, and up to 50 dispensaries would be established.

Growers and processors of marijuana would be subject to a 5 percent tax, which would support the costs of Pennsylvania’s Department of Health to operate the program. Law enforcement, researchers and services that help drug abusers would also benefit from the tax.

There’s one catch, though.

The House bill doesn’t quite jibe with the Senate bill, and, as the Associated Press reported, Senate staff and lawyers have uncovered what they say are “numerous flaws” in the House legislation. If it alters the House bill, the Senate would have to vote on the bill again, and it would go back to the House, where there’s the possibility that it would languish, and residents who would benefit from medical marijuana will continue to be deprived of it.

“If we send it back to the House, we may never see it again,” said state Sen. Daylin Leach, a Democrat from Montgomery County. Fred Sembach, the chief of staff for state Sen. Mike Folmer, the Lebanon Republican who sponsored the first Senate bill, likened the House bill to “giving a child a toy at Christmas but then not giving a battery to make it work. It’s too important to enact a bill into law that may not work.”

The best solution would be for the Senate to approve the House bill as is, send it to Wolf, and make adjustments later.

All told, 23 states and the District of Columbia have approved medical marijuana. It seems likely that all states will eventually. There never could be a better moment than this one for Pennsylvania to join that list.