Effort To Legalize Recreational Marijuana In PA Suffers Setback

HARRISBURG, PA — The attempt to legalize recreational marijuana in Pennsylvania suffered its latest setback Tuesday when a bill approved last week by the state House was killed by a Senate committee.

In a 7-3 vote, the Senate Law and Justice Committee shot down the Cannabis Health and Safety Act, which would have legalized adult-use marijuana in the state, expunged criminal records for those impacted by cannabis-related offenses and would have operated sales through the state's Liquor Control Board.

“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,” Republican Sen. Dan Laughlin of Erie, who chairs the committee, 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.”

In his proposed 2025-26 state budget address in February, Gov. Josh Shapiro noted that almost all of Pennsylvania's neighbors have legalized adult use cannabis - including New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and Ohio.

Shapiro asserted that Pennsylvania is currently at a competitive disadvantage and losing out on revenue and new businesses to those states. According to Shapiro, executives from neighboring states with cannabis stores on the border have reported that up to 60 percent of their customers are from Pennsylvania.