Bipartisan bill to legalize marijuana introduced in Pennsylvania Legislature

Marijuana legalization will get another chance in the Pennsylvania Legislature thanks to a new bipartisan bill.

State senators Dan Laughlin (R-Erie) and Sharif Street (D-Philadelphia) this week introduced a bill that would allow those over the age of 21 to buy and use marijuana and expunge the convictions of those sentenced for non-violent marijuana-related offenses.

Existing medical marijuana dispensaries would be allowed to sell their products to the public, and new dispensaries would be licensed.

Licenses to grow marijuana would be made widely available, a departure from the strictly limited number growers allowed under the state’s existing medical marijuana program.

“While my colleague Sen. Street and I come from different political parties, we see a bipartisan way forward on marijuana legalization that is premised on safety and social equity,” Laughlin said in a statement.

Street is one of the Senate’s leading advocates for legalization of marijuana. He co-sponsored a 2019 legalization bill that died in committee, and appeared with Gov. Tom Wolf in a September news conference at which Wolf called for legalization.

“In close collaboration with Sen. Laughlin, key community groups and stakeholders throughout the commonwealth, we developed a bill that is a Pennsylvania approach to adult use marijuana legalization,” Street said in a statement. [Read more at TribLive]