Pennsylvania GOP Senator Who Supports Marijuana Legalization Says Governor’s Plan Has ‘No Real Path Forward’

A Republican Pennsylvania senator who supports marijuana legalization says the governor’s latest cannabis proposal “undermines” the goals of the reform and has “no real path forward.”

While Sen. Dan Laughlin (R) has long advocated for legalization, sponsoring bipartisan bills to end prohibition, he said on Wednesday that Gov. Josh Shapiro’s (D) budget proposal to enact the policy change is fundamentally flawed.

“I have long believed that Pennsylvania needs a responsible, well-regulated adult-use cannabis program that prioritizes public safety, eliminates the illicit market and generates legitimate economic growth,” Laughlin said. “That’s why I have introduced legislation for the past four years to legalize cannabis in a way that makes sense for consumers, businesses and law enforcement.”

“I take this issue seriously and will continue to work toward a responsible and effective policy,” he said. “Unfortunately, while both [former] Gov. Tom Wolf and now Shapiro have included cannabis revenue projections in their budgets, neither administration has made a genuine effort to work with me or legislative leadership to get a bill passed. Simply projecting revenue without crafting a functional plan does nothing to move Pennsylvania forward.”

Pennsylvanians deserve a cannabis policy that works, not just another budget projection with no real path forward.https://t.co/PwzXeaQobS

— Senator Dan Laughlin (@senatorlaughlin) February 5, 2025

This has been a recurring criticism of the governor, who projected in his latest budget request this week that the state stood to generate $536.5 million from legal cannabis sales under his plan, which involves a relatively high tax rate for marijuana compared to other state cannabis markets.

“Shapiro’s proposal of a 26 percent effective tax rate is not only excessive, but also counterproductive,” the senator said. “A tax rate that high will only drive consumers to the black market, increasing crime and undermining the very goals of legalization. If we want to do this right, we need a plan that competes with illicit sellers while ensuring appropriate regulation and enforcement.”

“As we review the governor’s proposal in the coming months, I will continue working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to draft a responsible and effective legalization bill,” Laughlin said. “Pennsylvanians deserve a cannabis policy that works, not just another budget projection with no real path forward.”

This comes as the governor is promoting his cannabis proposal, in part by sharing a video his office produced of person-on-the-street interviews with Pennsylvanians voicing support for legalization and expressing frustration about lost revenue to neighboring states that have already implemented the reform.

Five of our neighboring states have legalized adult-use cannabis. So Pennsylvanians are driving out to New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, and Ohio… and just spending their money there.

We’re losing out — and leaving $1.3 billion in revenue on the table.

And people… pic.twitter.com/g7RAumuVye

— Governor Josh Shapiro (@GovernorShapiro) February 5, 2025

“Five of our neighboring states have legalized adult-use cannabis. So Pennsylvanians are driving out to New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, and Ohio… and just spending their money there,” Shapiro said. “We’re losing out—and leaving $1.3 billion in revenue on the table. And people know it.”

But Laughlin isn’t alone in his skepticism about the governor’s ability to see through the cannabis reform he’s proposing.

“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.

House Majority Leader Matt Bradford (D) said following the 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.”

Meanwhile, a top Democrat in the House suggested after the budget was released that there’s still some splintering within the caucus about the best path forward to implement a regulated cannabis market.

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.

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Additionally, in September, bipartisan Reps. Aaron Kaufer (R) and Emily Kinkead (D) 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 Brian Shamblen.

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