By Peter Hall | Pennsylvania Capital-Star
A proposal that would legalize the recreational use of marijuana advanced out of the Pennsylvania House Health Committee along party lines on Monday.
House Bill 1200, sponsored by Rep. Rick Krajewski (D-Philadelphia), would include a number of reforms to marijuana policy, including allowing the purchase of marijuana for recreational use by those 21 years and older, mainly through publicly owned stores overseen by the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board.
Krajewski said the proposal creates a “balanced, responsible, and robust framework to legalize and regulate” cannabis use by adults. He crafted the legislation along with Pennsylvania House Health Committee Chairman Dan Frankel (D-Allegheny).
“Right now, Pennsylvanians who use cannabis are either crossing state lines to purchase from other legal markets or buying from the illicit market,” Krajewski said Monday. “The reality is, criminalization of cannabis does not work. It does not deter usage, it does not promote safety, and it is not in the best interest of our commonwealth.”
A co-sponsorship memo for the proposal notes that five of the six states that border Pennsylvania have legalized marijuana. Krajewski said that although the Keystone State is “late to the game in terms of legalizing cannabis, this timing allows us to learn from the mistakes of other frameworks.”
Legalization, he added, will impose regulations on potency, content and labeling.
“We can promote public health, while bringing hundreds of millions of public dollars that can be directed to the communities hit hardest by past criminalization,” he said.
The co-sponsorship memo of the bill notes that the proposal would reinvest “funds into communities disproportionately harmed by the war on drugs.”
Shapiro’s budget proposal estimates that a 20% tax on the wholesale price of recreational marijuana products would generate $15.6 million plus an additional $11.4 million in sales tax revenue for the 2025-26 budget.
Republicans opposed the measure, citing a wide range of issues, starting with the legislative process.
Rep. Charity Grimm Krupa (R-Fayette) complained that House Democrats formally introduced the 173-page bill on Sunday and then scheduled the vote for Monday.
“It’s appalling, it’s offensive, and frankly, it was done because it’s widely known that there is broad opposition to this bill in the manner in which the language is being presented,” she said. “This scheme is a slap in the face of every member of this committee, to the public and to the very concept of representative government.”
Frankel disagreed, contending that the committee held six hearings on the matter last session.
Republicans made an attempt to table the vote, but that failed along partisan lines.
Other concerns expressed by Republicans who voted against the proposal included the impact legalization of recreational marijuana could have on the state’s workforce and public safety, including that cannabis is still considered a Schedule I controlled substance by the federal government.
“There’s nothing healthy or safe about legalizing the recreational use of marijuana,” said Pennsylvania House Health Committee Minority Chair Kathy Rapp (R-Warren).
The bill advanced out of the committee by a 14-12 vote and advanced to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives for consideration.
Many Democrats have expressed support for passing marijuana legalization, although they hold a narrow majority in the House and are the minority party in the state Senate.
Pennsylvania Capital-Star is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Pennsylvania Capital-Star maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Tim Lambert for questions: info@penncapital-star.com.
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