Pennsylvania Governor Renews Push To Legalize Marijuana, Saying The State Is ‘Losing Out On Revenue’ To Neighbors Like Ohio And Maryland

The governor of Pennsylvania has once again included a proposal to legalize marijuana in his budget request—calling on the legislature to enact the “long overdue” reform, even if it seems “complicated.”

Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) has called for legalization in his previous two budget requests, projecting a significant windfall of tax revenue for the Keystone State which he says is currently being lost to surrounding states that have implemented legal cannabis markets.

The plan projects that legalization of possession would be enacted on July 1, with the first regulated sales starting on January 1, 2026.

Shapiro said in his latest budget address on Tuesday that coming to embrace marijuana legalization as a father and former state attorney general “was hard for me.”

“But I took the time to study it and understand the impacts—to understand the choice between continuing the black market of drug dealing versus a highly-regulated industry with protections in place for our children,” he said. “Letting this business operate in the shadows doesn’t make sense. And by doing nothing, we’re making Pennsylvania less competitive.”

It’s long overdue to regulate and tax adult-use cannabis.

24 states have already legalized it, regulating and taxing it to benefit the residents of their states — and that includes five of our neighbors.

Letting this business operate in the shadows doesn’t make sense.

And by…

— Governor Josh Shapiro (@GovernorShapiro) February 4, 2025

“Besides, let’s not kid ourselves. Pennsylvanians who want to buy cannabis are just driving across the border to one of our neighbors,” the governor said. “Five of our neighboring states have legalized adult-use cannabis. “I’ve talked to the CEOs of the companies right across the border in New Jersey, Maryland and New York who tell me that 60 percent of their customers in those shops are Pennsylvanians.”

“We’re losing out on revenue that’s going to other states instead of helping us here,” he continued. “We’re losing out on an industry that, over the first five years, will bring in $1.3 billion in new revenue to our Commonwealth.”

To that point, the governor’s budget projects a $536.5 million windfall in marijuana tax revenue for the fiscal year—a significant increase from the $14.8 million that was estimated in his last budget request. That’s largely attributable to a newly proposed licensing fee structure that the governor says is consistent with other legal state markets.

A portion of that revenue would be earmarked for social equity programs, while the remainder would go to the state general fund. A summary states that $10 million would support “restorative justice initiatives” and the automatic expungement of past cannabis convictions. Another $25 million would be invested to “help new small and small diverse businesses enter the new marketplace.”

“I ask you to come together and send to my desk a bill that legalizes adult-use cannabis and expunges the records of people who have been convicted for nonviolent possession of small amounts of marijuana,” Shapiro said.

That bill should be one that “sets reasonable regulations, protects public safety, and gives communities that suffered from the criminalization of cannabis an opportunity to succeed.”

Under the governor’s plan, the state Department of Agriculture and Department of Health would be responsible for regulating the marijuana program.

“I know some are going to say it’s complicated, but it’s been talked about for years. And just in the last two years, Ohio legalized, Maryland legalized, and we keep falling further behind,” he said. “I’ve been heartened by the fact that more and more Republicans and Democrats are coming on board, embracing liberty and economic opportunity. Let’s get it done.”

The budget book released by the administration on Tuesday reiterates that “the time has come for Pennsylvania to legalize adult use cannabis,” with a policy change that “provides a real opportunity for Pennsylvania farmers to cultivate a new, legal industry and establish a thriving market for the state.”

I’ve talked to the CEOs of the companies who own adult-use cannabis stores right across the border in New Jersey, Maryland, and New York.

They tell me that up to 60% of their customers in those shops are Pennsylvanians.

We’re losing out on revenue that’s going to other states… pic.twitter.com/WwBaTayzsY

— Governor Josh Shapiro (@GovernorShapiro) February 4, 2025

It’s unclear if the legislature will heed the governor’s call to legalize, however. Top Republicans such as Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R) have said recently that there are logistical challenges that he’s unsure lawmakers will be able to overcome.

“It’s a practicality issue more than a philosophical issue,” he said last month, referencing the continued federal prohibition on cannabis and his concerns about the state’s ability to effectively regulate a cannabis market.

“Obviously, this state has not done well in rolling out medical marijuana,” the top GOP lawmaker argued. “We’ve not demonstrated our ability to have the bureaucracy manage something of that magnitude.”

House Majority Leader Matt Bradford (D), however, indicated that he feels the time is ripe to advance 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.”

“Yes, our numbers are close, but we are confident that we can get our numbers together and show that there is a path forward on cannabis,” he said of the possible vote tally on a legalization bill.

Meanwhile, the new Republican state attorney general of Pennsylvania recently raised concerns about the “potential harm that could be caused criminally” by enacting the reform.

“From a policy perspective, what I can say is—and this is something that I said all throughout the campaign—regardless of what policy issue we’re talking about… you have to have voices from from from all parts of the community on this, and I would be remiss as a prosecutor and now as a chief law enforcement officer for Pennsylvania if I wasn’t a voice outlining the potential harm that could be caused criminally as a result of that,” Attorney General Dave Sunday (R) said.

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.

Sen. Dan Laughlin (R), a proponent of cannabis reform in past sessions, chairs the Senate Law and Justice Committee and said this month he expects the panel to “be one of the most active committees in the state” in the new session.

In response to the governor’s budget speech on Tuesday, Sen. Sharif Street (D) said, “I support the governor’s position on cannabis legalization—it’s long overdue.”

“This is about justice, economic growth, and securing PA’s future,” the senator, who has sponsored bipartisan legalization proposals in past sessions, said. “Let’s stop criminalizing cannabis and build a legal market that benefits all Pennsylvanians. We need this revenue. Let’s pass this bill!”

I support the governor’s position on cannabis legalization—it’s long overdue. This is about justice, economic growth, and securing PA’s future. Let’s stop criminalizing cannabis and build a legal market that benefits all Pennsylvanians. We need this revenue. Let’s pass this bill!

— Senator Sharif Street (@SenSharifStreet) February 4, 2025

“Governor Shapiro’s budget proposal includes robust investments in our communities funded by, among other things, a responsible, recurring revenue stream from an adult-use cannabis market,” Brit Crampsie, spokesperson for the advocacy group ResponsiblePA, said in a press release. “His vision for legalization in the state makes us competitive once again with neighboring states.”

“We deserve an adult use cannabis market, just like our border states of Ohio, New Jersey, Maryland, and New York. We deserve the jobs it supports and the revenue it generates,” Crampsie said. “To go another year under prohibitionist policy serves no one and dwindles the state’s resources.”

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, a longtime legalization advocate, 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.

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.

As Pennsylvania’s legislature reconvenes amid rising pressure to enact legalization, advocates view 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.

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.

New York Senators File Bill To Decriminalize Possession Of All Drugs

Photo courtesy of Philip Steffan.

The post Pennsylvania Governor Renews Push To Legalize Marijuana, Saying The State Is ‘Losing Out On Revenue’ To Neighbors Like Ohio And Maryland appeared first on Marijuana Moment.