Pennsylvania Agriculture Department Is In A ‘Really Good’ Position To Oversee Marijuana Legalization Under Governor’s Plan, Secretary Says

Pennsylvania’s agriculture secretary says he’s fully confident that his department is in a “really good” position to oversee an adult-use marijuana program as proposed by the governor if lawmakers enact the reform.

During hearings before the House and Senate Appropriations Committees this week, Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding weighed in on various aspect of Gov. Josh Shapiro’s (D) latest budget request, including his proposal to legalize cannabis this year.

In general, Redding said that he appreciates the governor’s understanding that creating a regulated system of sales represents a “reality check of the market and what’s playing out” in Pennsylvania and surrounding states. And as far as the role Shapiro envisions for his department in regulating the industry, Redding said “there’s not another agency that’s in-and-out of more food establishments and manufacturing facilities in Pennsylvania than we are.”

“We’ve got the regulatory structure. Our roots are there,” he said at the Senate committee hearing.

The secretary said at several points that, while the agriculture department is uniquely suited to manage a future adult-use program, it’s important that it brings in “the expertise and the capacity” of the Department of Health, which currently oversees the state’s medical cannabis program.

“So combined, we end up in a really good place to manage this,” he said. “But it takes new resources. It takes new people. The governor’s office has committed to that, and then we have to figure out what’s the design.”

Generally speaking, however, Redding argued that lessons learned from the other two dozen states that have already enacted adult-use legalization has demonstrated the need to have “a single agency lead it,” and he’s prepared to do just that with his department.

Sen. Sharif Street (D), who is planning to introduce bipartisan cannabis legalization legislation again this year, discussed the reform proposal he recently announced in partnership with a Republican senator, asking Redding for his thoughts on potentially creating a Cannabis Control Board staffed by the agriculture department to oversee the program.

“Well, as as proposed by the governor, the agriculture would lead the adult-use cannabis effort, right? Meaning we would house it,” Redding responded. “We would lead it. We would manage it. We regulate it. And that’s all inside the Department of Agriculture, along with those various sort of advisory boards and committees. So we’re welcoming that.”

Yesterday’s budget hearing with the Department of Agriculture. A few things I asked were their thoughts on how adult use cannabis would be welcomed and how urban agriculture is developing in the commonwealth. pic.twitter.com/eAy0E8fLaO

— Senator Sharif Street (@SenSharifStreet) February 28, 2025

At the House Appropriations Committee hearing, Rep. Eric Davanzo (R) pressed the secretary on the department’s involvement in the governor’s budget planning, asking whether he requested the policy change and having agriculture run the program.

While Redding said he didn’t individually make the request, he again defended his agency’s ability to see the reform through.

“I do believe, as I said last year, that there’s an economic opportunity for the ag community,” he said. “We’ve heard themes of that today about how do we protect them and enhance it? I think this is a really important difference between what the other 24 states are proposing. What Pennsylvania’s proposed will be the only state that will be administered by a state Department of Agriculture.”

He added that Pennsylvania is “the only state that is prioritized in the permitting, the opportunity for farmers to actually have a permit to grow” under the plan.

“So while we have folks who are interested in industrial hemp, there’s going to be folks who are interested in adult-use—and when you can produce a crop that’s got a margin compared to where a lot of the crops are today, it’s a good thing.”

He also affirmed to Davanzo that his department did contribute its perspective on the projected funding amounts included in the governor’s proposal.

Rep. Torren Ecker (R), the House GOP vice chair, sought clarification on whether the secretary is aware of “any other states that have legalized marijuana that have used the Department of Agriculture for these programs.”

“No,” Redding said.

Ecker asked him to expand on his thoughts about why he feels the department should be tasked with that responsibility.

“I thought a lot about this,” the secretary said. “The Department of Agriculture, we’re in and out of 47,000 food establishments, 7,300 greenhouses and nurseries. I mean, we’re talking about plants. We’re talking about a commodity. This is a regulatory structure. It’s really, at the end of the day, it’s a commodity.”

“And how we manage the commodity? I think this is what we’ve done. Our roots are in roots, right?” he said. “So I really feel like we can do this with all the confidence, with a partnership with the Department of Health and the medical marijuana program, so I take as a vote of confidence. I think it’s an opportunity.”

The secretary largely echoed comments he made the last time the governor proposed a regulatory framework for marijuana that was centered around the agriculture department.

About this time last year, Redding said he was “excited” about the possibility of his agency overseeing the adult-use marijuana market. And he said the state was uniquely positioned to leverage the reform, in part because farmers there are “really good at growing things.”

Meanwhile, earlier this month, top Pennsylvania police and health officials told lawmakers they are prepared to implement marijuana legalization if the legislature moves forward with the reform—and that they stand ready to work together as the details of legislation to achieve it are crafted.

Separately, amid the growing calls for marijuana legalization in Pennsylvania, a GOP state senator says prohibition has been a “disaster,” and a regulated sales model for cannabis—similar to how alcohol and tobacco are handled—could serve as an effective alternative.

Voters are ready to see that policy change, according to a poll released earlier this month.

The survey, commissioned by the advocacy group ResponsiblePA, found that nearly 7 in 10 voters in the state support the reform—including a majority of Republicans. And 63 percent want to see the legislature enact the reform this year, rather than delaying it.

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While Shapiro once again included a proposal to enact cannabis legalization in his latest budget request, there’s been mixed feedback from legislators—some of whom want to see the governor more proactively come to the table to discuss possible pathways for reform and others skeptical about the possibility of advancing the issue this session.

Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Scott Martin (R), for example, said this month that he doesn’t “see any path whatsoever” to enacting legalization in line with the governor’s plan.

At the same time, the state secretary for the Department of Revenue has predicted that Shapiro’s proposal could be passed during the current budget cycle, indicating that he feels reform could start to be implemented within months.

House Majority Leader Matt Bradford (D), meanwhile, said following the governor’s budget speech that “there is real diversity of opinions among our members,” likely referencing split perspectives on regulatory models, with some lawmakers pushing for a state-run cannabis program.

He also said recently that he feels the time is ripe to advance marijuana reform this session, saying “it strikes me as abdicating our responsibility to protect our communities and our children, and at the same time, we are losing revenue that is going to go into our neighboring states.”

Key lawmakers have expressed skepticism about the governor’s ability to see through the cannabis reform he’s proposing, however.

“The governor needs to lead on something. If he wants something done, he needs to lead on it,” Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward (R) said. “He can’t throw an idea out there—which he did last year—and say, ‘Let the legislature figure it out. I’ll sign it. Then I’ll go do press conferences all over the state.’”

House Minority Leader Jesse Topper (R) was also asked about the prospect of enacting various of the governor’s budget proposals, including marijuana. And he said while he’s “not going to speak for the governor,” there’s “one person that has the ability to bring those deals together—and that is the governor.”

He referenced recent remarks from Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R) who said there are logistical challenges to advancing legalization that he’s unsure lawmakers will be able to overcome.

The feedback from GOP lawmakers is reminiscent of earlier criticism from the caucus about the governor, who they’ve claimed has made the call for reform without meaningfully engaging with the legislature about how to get it done.

Also, the new Republican state attorney general of Pennsylvania recently raised concerns about the “potential harm that could be caused criminally” by enacting the reform.

The Republican chair of a key Senate committee recently said he’s expecting to take up legislation this year that would make Pennsylvania the 25th in the U.S. to legalize adult-use marijuana. He also thinks that more of his GOP colleagues could get on board with the reform soon than have in the past.

While many legalization advocates and observers think Pennsylvania is among the most likely states to pass a recreational marijuana law this session, the devil is in the details. One lawmaker has floated a relatively simple bill to decriminalize personal possession, while two others plan to introduce more sweeping legislation that would legalize through a state-run system of stores.

Laughlin last spring introduced a bill meant to remove state barriers to medical marijuana patients carrying firearms. While it didn’t move forward, the lawmaker said in the recent interview that he believes political support for legalization more broadly has been building.

The senator said an event last 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.”

Reps. Dan Frankel (D) and Rick Krajewski (D) announced in December that they planned to file legalization legislation, emphasizing that there’s a “moral obligation” to repair harms of criminalization while also raising revenue as neighboring state markets mature.

Frankel said sponsors hope for a vote on the bill “sometime early spring,” though questions remain as to whether the legislature would be willing to get behind the push to end cannabis prohibition, especially through the state-run sales model he is proposing.

A separate decriminalization measure, meanwhile, from Pennsylvania Rep. Danilo Burgos (D), would make simple possession of cannabis a summary offense punishable by a $100 fine without the threat of jail time. Currently, low-level possession is considered a misdemeanor, carrying a penalty of up to 30 days in jail, a maximum $500 fine or both.

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

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.

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.

As for cannabis and gun ownership, Laughlin had been looking at the issue for more than a year before introducing last year’s bill, writing last February to the state’s acting police commissioner to “strongly encourage” he review a federal ruling that the U.S. government’s ban on gun ownership by people who use marijuana is unconstitutional.

Since then, further federal court cases have questioned the constitutionality of the federal firearm ban. A federal judge in El Paso, for example, recently ruled that the ongoing ban on gun ownership by habitual marijuana users was unconstitutional in the case of a defendant who earlier pleaded guilty to the criminal charge. The court allowed the man to withdraw the plea and ordered that the indictment against him be dismissed.

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Photo courtesy of Mike Latimer.