Pennsylvania Representatives Rick Krajewski and Dan Frankel this week circulating a memo alerting their colleagues in the state legislature that they plan to introduce new adult-use recreational cannabis legalization legislation.
According to the Associated Press, Pennsylvania is the only state in the nation where legislative control is split. It legalized medical cannabis nearly nine years ago but recreational use is still not permitted.
Now two lawmakers are close to launching another effort to change that. The following is the memo that Krajewski and Frankel sent out to the members of the Pennsylvania house:
As a state that continues to criminalize recreational cannabis, Pennsylvania is now an outlier — 24 states have legalized the practice, including 5 of the 6 states that border Pennsylvania.
But legal or not, Pennsylvanians are consuming marijuana, whether by visiting our bordering states, buying unregulated hemp loophole products at gas stations and vape shops, or purchasing in the illicit market.
Prohibition is a failed policy with significant consequences to our Commonwealth. It has ruined lives over minor cannabis offenses, disproportionately impacting Black and Brown communities. Consumption of unregulated and dangerous products has increased. And we are losing millions of public revenue that our communities need.
The need to decriminalize and regulate a cannabis market is clear, but we can see from the missteps of many states before us that a poorly structured cannabis program can fail to convert the illicit market, leave consumers without health protections and enrich huge, out-of-state corporations rather than lifting up our own communities.
For that reason, we plan to introduce adult-use cannabis legislation that prioritizes:
- Expungement and restorative justice for those affected by draconian drug policies.
- Reinvestment of funds into communities disproportionately harmed by the war on drugs.
- Public health protections, such as limiting excessive THC levels, prohibiting predatory marketing and packaging, preventing accidental ingestions by children, and other recommendations developed by our nation’s leading scientists.
- Providing sustainable cannabis businesses opportunities for local and diverse operators.
Please join us in cosponsoring this important piece of legislation.
