A state senator who has sought a way to legalize adult-use marijuana in Pennsylvania said there “is zero chance that the state store model will make it through the Senate.”
Sen. Dan Laughlin, R-Erie County, has sought support along with Sen. Sharif Street, D-Philadelphia, for a bill that “mandates product testing for safety, purity, and potency, ensuring consumer protection while helping eliminate the risks tied to the unregulated black market.”
He doesn’t think House Bill 1200, as approved on a party-line 102-101 vote earlier this week in the state House, is that bill. Nor does a House member who had a similar idea for legislation dealing with marijuana or cannabis.
“Besides the fact that this would require state employees and the state itself to violate federal law, risking the freezing of employee’s personal and state bank accounts and the State’s access to federal funding,” state Rep. Abby Major, R-Leechburg, told fellow House members, “this bill is a costly and inefficient approach for the Commonwealth; posing significant risks to our economy, our medical program, social equity, and public health and safety.”
Major was seeking support for “A Bipartisan Path to Adult-Use Cannabis Legislation in Pennsylvania” co-sponsored by Rep. Emily Kinkead, D-Pittsburgh, but their bill had never been introduced.
Instead, House Bill 1200, as proposed by Reps. Rick Krajewski, D-Philadelphia, and Dan Frankel, D-Pittsburgh, was sent to the Senate.
As proposed by Krajewski and Frankel, HB 1200 aims to advance a comprehensive plan that centers on public health, community repair and economic opportunity.
“Pennsylvania families deserve a modern cannabis policy that reflects science and compassion, not stigma,” Frankel said. “We are ready to work with our Senate colleagues to get this across the finish line.”
They said it would maximize state revenue and accountability with publicly owned and accountable retail stores.
“Establishing a state-run cannabis system from scratch will cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars — if not more,” Major argued on the House floor. “The proposal calls for substantial borrowing to build new stores, hire and train staff, and create an entirely new bureaucracy.”
She said the fiscal note on HB 1200 “projects over $270 million in upfront costs (that) will be borne by taxpayers before a single dollar of revenue is generated.”
“Placing the sale of marijuana within our existing state liquor store system takes a step back and props up an antiquated system,” Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman, R-Indiana, said Thursday. “It’s hard to believe the House spent so much time this week on a serious issue and ultimately sent us an unserious bill. With House Democrats’ failure to obtain bi-partisan support for the bill in their chamber, it’s clear advancing marijuana legalization in this manner was a performative exercise.”
Major said lawmakers could leverage “the infrastructure we’ve already built in the medical market — nearly 30,000 jobs, over 450,000 active patients, and nearly $2 billion in annual sales,” but, instead, “we’re choosing to start from scratch? To erase the progress of the past eight years? To say, ‘Sorry we’ve been arresting and prosecuting you for 100 years for selling cannabis, but we’ll take it from here’?”
Major said the House should have rejected HB1200 “and instead look to a well-regulated private market—one that delivers immediate economic benefits, supports entrepreneurs, protects patients, and ensures public safety.”
