Pennsylvania Governor Says He’ll Put Marijuana Legalization In Budget Again As Lawmakers Signal Optimism For 2025

Pennsylvania lawmakers are feeling optimistic about the chances of legalizing adult-use marijuana in the 2025 session, and the governor plans to once again call for the reform as part of his next budget proposal.

With state legislators announcing their intent to file legalization bills for next year’s session, recent comments signal that there’s an increased sense of urgency to act, especially given regional reform developments as neighboring state markets mature.

Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) told TribLive that he will put recreational cannabis legalization in his budget request again next year. He’s done so in the last two budgets without success, but lawmakers and advocates have indicated that the third time might be the charm.

“I think it is an issue of fairness, justice and competitiveness,” Shapiro said. “All the states around us have approved or are in the process of approving recreational marijuana. Folks are going across state borders in order to purchase it and paying taxes to those states. They should be keeping their money right here in Pennsylvania.”

While the governor has focused on the economic opportunities of legalization—and the consequences of inaction—other legislators have emphasized the criminal justice and social equity components of reform.

Rep. Dan Frankel (D), who recently announced a cannabis legalization bill alongside Rep. Rick Krajewski (D) that calls for state-run sales, told WESA that a key component of the legislation is “expunging people’s records for marijuana possession,” as well as the “social economic equity piece that provides opportunities for communities that have been most adversely impacted by the criminal justice system to receive economic benefit from full legalization.”

Although GOP lawmakers have posed a barrier to reform over recent sessions, he said his conservative colleagues have “grudgingly” come to realize that “the toothpaste is out of the tube. You can’t put it back. And if [cannabis] is going to exist, we ought to probably provide a safe, legal product out there that’s regulated… as opposed to an illicit marketplace.”

“Every state around us has had a legal market, and some of them not very well regulated,” he separately told TribLive. “And, in addition to that, you have an illicit market that is thriving with all of the stores that are selling unregulated products, eating into legal medical marijuana sales.”

“There’s clearly an environment where it just doesn’t make sense to not move ahead with adult recreational-use cannabis,” he said. “We’ve had at least 20 hours of hearings and internally within caucus trying to educate members.”

Sen. Sharif Street (D), another longtime advocate for legalization, told WESA that another “comprehensive” bipartisan cannabis legalization bill on the Senate side is around the corner, which he said would again be introduced with Sen. Dan Laughlin (R).

He also noted that there’s “a lot of talk” about ensuring that “we have standards that allow cannabis patients—and soon cannabis consumers—to be able to use cannabis without being subject to DUI” if they weren’t actively impaired and simply tested positive for THC metabolites for use that took place days or weeks earlier.

Meanwhile, Rep. Kathy Rapp (R), minority chair of the House Health Committee, reiterated her skepticism about the economic potential of legalization, claiming that a review of other states that have implemented the reform shows that “the revenue added is minuscule and the danger to our youth and our mental health system far outweighs that.”

However, she added that, “I live very close to the New York border, and I know our constituents are going to New York buying and coming back to Pennsylvania. Should people be in prison for life for marijuana? I agree that should not be the case.”

Additionally, in September, bipartisan Reps. Aaron Kaufer (R) and Emily Kinkead (D) formally introduced a bipartisan marijuana legalization bill, alongside 15 other cosponsors.

And in July, the governor said his administration and lawmakers would “come back and continue to fight” for marijuana legalization and other policy priorities that were omitted from budget legislation he signed into law that month.

Meanwhile, a top GOP Pennsylvania senator who has long expressed concerns about marijuana legalization told advocates recently that she’s against arresting people over cannabis, noting that the policy change could protect her son and disclosing that if it weren’t for marijuana, she might not have met her husband, according to an activist who spoke with her.

As Pennsylvania’s legislature reconvenes amid rising pressure to enact legalization, advocates view the comments from Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward (R) as a positive sign that the dam on cannabis reform measures might be weakening in the commonwealth.

As for medical marijuana, the governor in October signed a bill to correct an omission in a law that unintentionally excluded dispensaries from state-level tax relief for the medical marijuana industry.

About three months after the legislature approved the underlying budget bill that Shapiro signed containing tax reform provisions as a partial workaround to a federal ban on tax deductions for cannabis businesses, the Pennsylvania legislature passed corrective legislation.

Separately, at a Black Cannabis Week event hosted recently by the Diasporic Alliance for Cannabis Opportunities (DACO) in October, Street and Reps. Chris Rabb (D), Amen Brown (D), Darisha Parker (D) and Napoleon Nelson (D) joined activists to discuss their legislative priorities and motivations behind advancing legalization in the Keystone State.

Other lawmakers have also emphasized the urgency of legalizing as soon as possible given regional dynamics, while signaling that legislators are close to aligning House and Senate proposals.

Recent data has also underscored the urgency of enacting cannabis reform, revealing that more than 12,000 people were arrested for cannabis possession in the Keystone state last year.

Meanwhile, a report commissioned by activists projected that Pennsylvania would see up to $2.8 billion in adult-use marijuana sales in the first year of implementing legalization, generate as much as $720 million in tax revenue and create upwards of 45,000 jobs.

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Street and Laughlin also participated in an X Spaces event in June where they said the votes are there to pass a marijuana legalization bill as soon as this year, though they stressed that the governor needs to work across the aisle to get the job done—and argued that it would be helpful if the federal government implemented its proposed cannabis rescheduling rule sooner rather than later.

Street was also among advocates and lawmakers who participated in a cannabis rally at the Pennsylvania State Capitol in June, where there was a significant emphasis on the need to incorporate social equity provisions as they move to advance legalization.

Laughlin, for his part, also said an event in May that the state is “getting close” to legalizing marijuana, but the job will only get done if House and Senate leaders sit down with the governor and “work it out.”

Warren County, Pennsylvania District Attorney Robert Greene, a registered medical cannabis patient in the state, filed a lawsuit in federal court in January seeking to overturn a ban preventing medical marijuana patients from buying and possessing firearms.

Two Pennsylvania House panels held a joint hearing to discuss marijuana legalization in April, with multiple lawmakers asking the state’s top liquor regulator about the prospect of having that agency run cannabis shops.

Also in April, members of the House Health Committee had a conversation centered on social justice and equity considerations for reform.

At a prior meeting in March, members focused on criminal justice implications of prohibition and the potential benefits of reform.

At another hearing in February, members looked at the industry perspective, with multiple stakeholders from cannabis growing, dispensing and testing businesses, as well as clinical registrants, testifying.

At the subcommittee’s previous cannabis meeting last December, members heard testimony and asked questions about various elements of marijuana oversight, including promoting social equity and business opportunities, laboratory testing and public versus private operation of a state-legal cannabis industry.

Last year, Shapiro signed a bill to allow all licensed medical marijuana grower-processors in the state to sell their cannabis products directly to patients.

Separately, Pennsylvania’s prior governor separately signed a bill into law in July 2022 that included provisions to protect banks and insurers in the state that work with licensed medical marijuana businesses.

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Photo courtesy of Mike Latimer.