The Cannabis Health and Safety Act, which, according to legislators who introduced the bill, planned to be “a bold, thoughtful proposal designed to center public health, repair communities harmed by prohibition, and create a stable, sustainable market” for legalized adult use marijuana in Pennsylvania, died in a state senate committee in Harrisburg on Tuesday.
By a vote of 3 to 7, legislators in the Pa. Senate Law and Justice Committee killed the proposal that would have legalized adult-use marijuana in the state, cleared criminal records for those impacted by cannabis-related offenses and would have operated sales through the state’s Liquor Control Board.
It’s the element that would have allowed the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board to sell marijuana at state-run stores that rankled State Rep. Dan Laughlin (R-49th dist.) — who voted against the bill — the most.
“I have said repeatedly that a state-store model for adult-use cannabis will not pass the Senate. That’s not an opinion, it’s a fact,” Laughlin said in a statement after the vote. “The House moving HB 1200 forward and sending it to the Senate was not a serious effort to legalize cannabis. It was a political move meant to shift blame for inaction, when I have yet to receive a single call from House leadership or the bill sponsors to discuss the concept.”
For Pa. State Rep. Seth Grove (R-196th dist.), who also voted the legislation down, this was a sticking point, too. He also said that he was concerned about the costs involved and the speed at which the bill was progressing through Harrisburg.
“First and foremost, this was a bad bill. Even supporters of legalization had concerns, as it would empower the existing Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, one of the most corrupt and poorly run state agencies, to regulate and sell recreational marijuana to adults at state-run stores similar to those which sell alcohol,” Grove wrote in a newsletter after the vote. “Another motivator for the rush to legalize recreational marijuana is the upcoming 2025-26 state budget deadline, June 30. The budget proposed by Gov. Josh Shapiro relies on more than $500 million in revenue from taxes and licensing related to recreational marijuana sales. However, the PLCB has said the bill would cost $260 million to get up and running, and they would not sell cannabis out of existing state stores. The fiscal note estimates initial costs upwards of $400 million. The math just does not work.”
So far, 24 states — including nearly all of Pa’s closest neighbors — have legalized recreational adult-use marijuana and, legislators have said that the state could rake in more than a half-billion dollars a year from taxes and profits from sales of the drug.
Source: www.nbcphiladelphia.com…