Pennsylvania House Passes Recreational Cannabis Legalization Bill
The Pennsylvania House of Representatives this week approved legislation to legalize recreational cannabis, nine years after the state legalized medical marijuana. The bill, known as the Cannabis Health and Safety Act (HB 1200), was approved by the House on Wednesday by a vote of 102-101.
If approved by the Pennsylvania Senate and signed into law by Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro, the bill would legalize the use of cannabis for adults age 21 and older. The legislation would also legalize sales of recreational marijuana through state-run cannabis dispensaries, a provision not seen in other states that have legalized the drug for use by adults.
HB 1200 was introduced on Sunday by Democratic Reps. Rick Krajewski and Dan Frankel. The legislation was then quickly approved by two House legislative committees and was approved on first reading by the full chamber on Tuesday. House lawmakers approved the measure again on third reading on Wednesday, sending it to the Pennsylvania Senate for consideration, Marijuana Moment reported this week.
The bill would decriminalize cannabis possession until regulated sales of recreational marijuana begin. During that time, possession of up to 30 grams of cannabis would be punishable as a summary offense, carrying a fine of up to $250. Once regulated sales begin, adults would be permitted to possess just over 42 grams of marijuana (about 1.5 ounces) and up to 5 grams of cannabis concentrates without penalty. The legislation also includes provisions for limited home cannabis cultivation by adults who pay a fee of $100 per year.
'The reality is criminalization of cannabis does not work. It does not deter usage, it does not promote safety, and it is not in the best interest of our commonwealth,' Krajewski told his colleagues on the House floor. 'With legalization, we have the opportunity to rein in a market that is completely deregulated in terms of potency, content. labeling or advertising. We can promote public health, while also bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars that can be directed to communities hit the hardest by past criminalization.'
Acknowledging that Pennsylvania 'is late to the game in terms of legalizing cannabis,' Krajewski said the delay has allowed lawmakers the chance to see what has worked in other states that have legalized recreational marijuana. He added that HB 1200 features a 'hybrid' regulatory model that provides for cannabis production to be carried out by private companies while retail sales would be restricted to state-run dispensaries operated by the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board. Krajewski characterized the model as a 'bold new approach' that will bring economic benefits to the state while avoiding the 'naked greed' of large cannabis businesses seen in other states.
'Massive multi-state cannabis companies have leveraged their existing medical and recreational footprints to control entire swaths of newly emerging recreational markets,' he said.
Pennsylvania State capitol building in Harrisburg.
LightRocket via Getty Images
'Where states have tried to level the playing field of social equity guidelines, those states have been terrorized with industry lawsuits,' Krajewski continued. 'This naked greed has led to near impossible conditions for small entrepreneurs to successfully compete in cannabis, enterprising business owners—many of whom are formerly incarcerated due to cannabis related offenses—were sold a fake gold rush dream by predatory investors when social equity businesses failed due to the volatility of a new market and aggressive multi-state operators, private equity was ready to swoop in and seize the remains.'
Not all cannabis reform advocates, however, are sold on the concept of state-run weed shops.
'There are many provisions in this bill that we commend. It would stop criminalizing people for using cannabis and prevent families from being torn apart and lives being ruined because adults choose to relax with cannabis,' Karen O'Keefe, director of state policies for the Marijuana Policy Project, said in a statement from the cannabis policy reform group. 'However, we have serious concerns about the viability of a state-run stores model due to federal law. No other state operates cannabis businesses this way, and for good reason. State cannabis laws must be carefully crafted to ensure they are workable in the face of federal prohibition.'
To become law, HB 1200 must be approved by the Republican-led Pennsylvania Senate. Although passage in the upper house of the Pennsylvania legislature may be a hard sell, GOP Sen. Gene Yaw told The Standard-Journal that prohibition 'has not turned out well' in American history.
'It makes sense that we regulate it the way we have done with alcohol and gambling, and tax it and do the best that we can in that regard,' Yaw said about cannabis. 'For us to bury our head in the sand and say that just because we have not legalized it that we are somehow preventing things like that from happening just makes no sense.'
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