Pennsylvania House Passes Bill to Allow All Medical Cannabis Growers to Obtain Retail Licenses
Marijuana Industry News November 20, 2023 MJ Shareholders
Pennsylvania is one step closer to allowing all 25 of its medical cannabis grower/processor licensees to also obtain retail licenses after the House passed Senate-approved legislation that would remove a restriction in the state’s 2016 medical cannabis law that allows only five grower/processor licensees to be fully vertically integrated.
Senate Bill 773 passed the Senate in September in a 44-3 vote. The House then approved a slightly revised version of the legislation Nov. 15 in a 114-89 vote.
The bill, introduced in June by Sen. Chris Gebhard, R-Lebanon County, aims to break up what lawmakers claim is a retail market controlled by only a handful of companies.
Senate Majority Leader Jay Costa, D-Allegheny County, has said, for example, that the medical cannabis retail market in Pennsylvania is a “monopoly-type situation with out-of-state, multistate organizations coming in to the detriment of these independent grower/processors,” according to a Penn Live report.
Since lawmakers amended the bill in the House, it must now get final approval in the Senate before it goes to Gov. Josh Shapiro’s desk.
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