Pennsylvania Marijuana Billboard Highlights Joint Support For Legalization From Harris, Trump And The State’s Governor

Pennsylvania marijuana reform advocates are sending a message to state lawmakers with a new billboard featuring the two major party presidential nominees—Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump— as well as Gov. Josh Shapiro (D), emphasizing the bipartisan support for legalization in the Keystone State.

The billboard, strategically placed in the capital of Harrisburg for legislators to see, shows pictures of the faces of the three politicians below statements about their joint support for legalization.

“Harrisburg Legalize Marijuana Now!” it says.

Responsible PA has been putting significant pressure on lawmakers as they’ve reconvened for the remainder of the 2024 session. Beyond the physical ad, the group has also commissioned polls showing majority bipartisan support for cannabis legalization among voters in multiple state House districts that are considered competitive heading into next month’s election.

“This year, it’s felt like there’s no agreement between the major party candidates for president—or any office really. But legalization of an adult-use cannabis market has brought everyone together,” Responsible PA spokesperson Brittany Crampsie told Marijuana Moment on Thursday.

New Advertising Campaign from @Respacannabis Highlights Common Policy Ground Between Harris, Trump And Shapiro on Marijuana Legalization https://t.co/wb3cUWR90K #LegalizePA pic.twitter.com/rPFzcsHDaq

— ResponsiblePA (@ResPaCannabis) October 2, 2024

“Is there any other topic where Kamala Harris, Donald Trump and Josh Shapiro agree? The PA state legislature is the only hold out in bringing a recreational market to this state, and they are one of the only state hold outs in the region,” she said. “We hope they’re reminded of this when they arrive in Harrisburg for their final session days of the year.”

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Whether legislators will heed that message remains to be seen. Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R), for example, told ABC 27 that the issue is “something the federal government needs to address in a uniform manner.”

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

The governor, for his part, said in July the 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.

Advocates said they viewed 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.

At a Black Cannabis Week event hosted recently by the Diasporic Alliance for Cannabis Opportunities (DACO), Sen. Sharif Street (D) 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.

At a press briefing in July, the chair of the Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus seemed to temper expectations about the potential timeline of passing legalization legislation, pointing out that the rest of the session will likely be too politically charged heading into the November election to get the job done this year.

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

New 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.

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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.

Street and Dan Laughlin (R) 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 in 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.

And during the panel’s first meeting late last year, Frankel said that state-run stores are “certainly an option” he’s considering for Pennsylvania, similar to what New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (R) recommended for that state last year, though a state commission later shied away from that plan.

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.

And on Wednesday, the legislature sent a bill to Shapiro to correct an omission in a law that unintentionally excluded dispensaries from state-level tax relief for the medical marijuana industry.

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Photo courtesy of Responsible PA.