New Pennsylvania Bill Would Protect Medical Marijuana Patients’ Parental Rights In Child Custody Disputes

New legislation in Pennsylvania would protect parents in child custody
cases from having their status as a medical marijuana patient used against
them in court.

The bill, SB 926, would insert a single sentence into state law around
child custody matters, specifying that “a party’s lawful use of medical
marijuana under [state law] alone is not enough evidence to determine child
custody or require a party to undergo a drug test.”

In general under Pennsylvania law, a party’s “history of drug or alcohol
abuse” is otherwise a factor that courts consider when deciding child
custody disputes.

The new proposal was introduced on Thursday by Sen. John Kane (D) and has
been referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee. So far it has four other
listed Democratic co-sponsors.

The change would take effect 60 days after becoming law.

In April, Kane began circulating a cosponsorship memo among colleagues to
build support for the measure.

He noted at the time that while state statue clearly says lawful use of
medical cannabis “shall not by itself be considered by a court in a custody
proceeding,” a father’s experience losing custody rights after testing
positive for THC metabolites highlighted a gap in the law.

After hearing his constituent’s story, Kane set out to both clarify the
existing statute and also ensure that a person’s patient status cannot be
used to justify a drug test in a custody case.

“To treat his pain without using addictive opioids, my constituent obtained
a medical marijuana card and began using this medication to treat his
arthritis,” Kane wrote at the time. “Medical marijuana has allowed him to
manage his pain, maintain his work, and remain an attentive father to his
three-year-old daughter.”

“Despite following the guidelines set forth by Pennsylvania’s Medical
Marijuana Act, the constituent found himself in a custody battle that has
threatened his rights as a father and penalized him based on his status as
a medical marijuana patient,” he continued, adding that current statute
“prohibits the lawful use of medical marijuana as a determinant of child
custody.”

“However, in my constituent’s case,” Kane said, “his use of medical
marijuana was used against him to determine child custody.”

The push for reform is unfolding alongside a more ambitious effort in
Pennsylvania to legalize marijuana for adult use. A Republican state
senator behind a recently filed bipartisan marijuana legalization bill, for
example, said last week that supporters are “picking up votes” to enact the
reform this session.

Sen. Dan Laughlin (R) said in an interview on Wednesday that support is
growing because “people would rather [legalize cannabis] than do a tax
increase to try and balance a budget,” referring to the revenue stream a
legal marijuana market would generate for the state.

“We’re just ignoring the obvious that folks, you know, if they want to use
cannabis, they already are,” he said. “I think that we should make it safe,
legal [and] put it in a controlled environment that keeps it out of the
hands of children as best we can. The state needs the revenue.”

Laughlin introduced legislation to legalize cannabis for adult-use
alongside Sen. Sharif Street (D). The pair have long championed the reform,
but efforts have consistently stalled out.

A legalization bill that would’ve created state-run cannabis stores did
pass the House this session, but it was quickly quashed in a Senate
committee. Now there are several alternative proposals under consideration
in the legislature, including the measure from Laughlin and Street.

Rep. Amen Brown (D) has also put forward a House companion version of the
legislation, which he said reflects “the strong support of two-thirds of
Pennsylvanians across rural, suburban, and urban districts.”

Laughlin, for his part, said that the introduction of the House companion
“will accomplish two things: It will prove the House has the ability to
pass our language, and it will give me the opportunity to sit down with the
governor and Senate leaders to discuss if a tax increase to balance the
budget is more palatable than cannabis revenue.”

“I firmly believe that if the House passes our language, that we have a
path to get this done,” he said.

Reps. Emily Kinkead (D) and Abby Major (R), meanwhile, filed their own
bipartisan cannabis reform proposal last week.

Laughlin and 16 other lawmakers also recently filed a separate bill to
create a new regulatory body in the state that would begin overseeing
medical cannabis while preparing to eventually handle the adult-use market as
well.

Laughlin previewed that measure in May, writing that Pennsylvania should
first take steps to make sure the state is “ready to act when legalization
becomes law” by establishing a Cannabis Control Board (CCB) now.

Street, who is also one of the original cosponsors of the bill, said
recently that he was working with bipartisan and bicameral lawmakers to
develop a passable marijuana legalization measure as the legislature
approached a budget deadline—telling supporters at the time that “we’re
getting close” and they shouldn’t “ease up” on the fight.

“There are some basic things that we know we need to have done,” he said.
“We need to make sure when we pass a recreational adult-use bill that we
seal and expunge the records of all those people who’ve been who’ve had
cannabis convictions in the past.”

Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R) previewed that marijuana
legalization would not be included in the 2026 budget as lawmakers
approached the deadline he expected they would miss. Ahead of the deadline,
Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) held out hope that negotiators can “get it done.”

“We’ve had really good, honest dialogue about it,” the governor, who
separately criticized the Senate for abruptly derailing the House marijuana
legalization bill, said.

“Look, I think this is an issue of competitiveness,” he said. “Every state
around us, with the exception of West Virginia, has gotten it done. You go
visit some of these dispensaries along our border—in this case with
Maryland, [that] is probably the closest one here. Sixty percent of the
people walking into those dispensaries are from the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania.”

Also, in May, Sen. Marty Flynn (D) announced his intent to file a new bill
to legalize marijuana in the state, calling on colleagues to join him on
the measure.

While the House legislation Krajewski sponsored alongside Rep. Dan Frankel
(D) was rejected in a Senate committee following its expedited passage
through the House along party lines, Street said he’s “cautiously
optimistic we’re going to be able to revive the bill and amend it and move
forward with a work product that allows us to get a bill on the governor’s
desk and realize revenue.”

Following the Senate committee vote, lawmakers from both chambers who
support legalization have been trading criticisms about each other’s roles
in the stalled push to end prohibition.

Krajewski, for example, recently wrote in a Marijuana Moment op-ed that Senate
Republicans who killed his House-passed cannabis legalization bill are
“stuck in their prohibitionist views of the past” and are “out of touch
with the will of our Commonwealth.”

Prior to that vote, Pennsylvania’s Republican attorney general said that
while he doesn’t currently support the House-passed marijuana legalization
bill, he’s open to changing his mind about the policy change after
continuing to review the details.

For what it’s worth, a recent poll found that Pennsylvania voters say they favor
a model where cannabis is sold by licensed private businesses, rather than
through a system of state-run stores.

The governor has repeatedly called for adult-use marijuana legalization.
However, he hasn’t endorsed the specific idea of having a state-controlled
model.

GOP lawmaker Major—who is sponsoring another forthcoming legalization bill that
envisions a traditional private sales model alongside Democrat Kinkead—said
during the House floor debate on HB 1200 that she stands opposed to the
competing bill, emphasizing that she disagrees with the state-run stores
proposal.

While Democrats control the House and governor’s office, they will still
need to reach a deal with the GOP-controlled Senate to effectuate change.
And in addition to the conflicting perspectives among pro-legalization
legislators, another potential barrier to reform is exactly that political
dynamic.

Regardless of which direction Pennsylvania lawmakers do—or don’t—go on
marijuana legalization this session, a survey released in April shows a
majority of adults in the state support the reform—and opposition to the
policy change has fallen by nearly 50 percent over the last decade.

Kinkead has made the case in another recent interview that legalizing
cannabis in Pennsylvania will help the state mitigate public health and
safety concerns associated with the illicit market, including the fact that
unregulated products can be laced with fentanyl.

The lawmaker previously introduced a separate bipartisan marijuana
legalization bill, alongside 15 other cosponsors, last September. It did
not advance, however.

Meanwhile, Laughlin recently called for the creation of a state “legacy”
fund, using tax revenue from adult-use marijuana sales and gaming to make
long-term investments in the Commonwealth’s economy.

The senator argued that, beyond using any resulting tax revenue to fund
day-to-day projects and public services, the state should earmark a portion
of those tax dollars for a fund to “provide a sustainable source of
prosperity that lasts for generations.”

Another GOP Pennsylvania senator, Sen. Gene Yaw (R), is backing the push to
legalize marijuana in the commonwealth, pointing out that, historically,
prohibition “has not turned out well,” noting the country’s experience with
alcohol criminalization.

Pennsylvania House Speaker Joanna McClinton (D) recently said that Democrats
are ready to pass a marijuana legalization bill this session, but that the
party “will need Republican support” to get the job done—adding that it
will be a “heavy lift.”

Polls have shown bipartisan support for legalization among voters, but the
reform has consistently stalled in the legislature, owing in large part to
GOP opposition. But not all Republican members are against the policy
change—and one recently said she felt her party should seize the
“opportunity to snatch” the issue from Democrats.

Separately in March, the Pennsylvania House approved a bill sponsored by
Frankel that’s meant to strengthen safety standards and oversight of the
state’s medical marijuana program as lawmakers work to advance adult-use
legalization.

While Pennsylvania’s medical cannabis program was enacted nearly a decade
ago, lawmakers say the measure, which now heads to the Senate, is necessary
to improve testing compliance, product audits and lab inspections, among
other aspects of the industry.

Meanwhile, Pennsylvania Democratic lawmakers recently introduced a bill
that would allow farmers and other small agriculture operators to sell
marijuana they cultivate to existing growers and and processors if the
state moves to legalize adult-use cannabis.

Separately, an independent Pennsylvania agency is projecting more tax
dollars to be generated from adult-use marijuana sales compared to what the
governor’s office has estimated, although it expects significantly less
overall revenue from cannabis legalization due to differing views on
licensing fees.

Pennsylvania officials have also launched a new survey that invites legal
marijuana businesses across the country to provide information about their
operations to help the state better understand the cannabis industry as
lawmakers consider enacting adult-use legalization this session.

Also, in a video interview released in March, the governor emphasized that the
state is “losing out” to others that have already enacted adult-use
legalization, while maintaining a policy that’s enriched the illicit market.

“I think it’s an issue of freedom and liberty. I mean, if folks want to
smoke, they should be able to do so in a safe and legal way,” he said. “We
should shut down the black market—and, by the way, every state around us is
doing it. Pennsylvanians are driving to those other states and paying taxes
in those other states.”

The state’s agriculture secretary separately told lawmakers that he’s fully
confident that his department is in a “really good” position to oversee an
adult-use marijuana program if lawmakers act.

Meanwhile, in February, top Pennsylvania police and health officials told
lawmakers they are prepared to implement marijuana legalization if the
legislature moves forward with the reform—and that they stand ready to work
together as the details of legislation to achieve it are crafted.

Amid the growing calls for marijuana legalization in Pennsylvania, a GOP
state senator said prohibition has been a “disaster,” and a regulated sales
model for cannabis—similar to how alcohol and tobacco are handled—could
serve as an effective alternative.

A Republican Pennsylvania senator also recently defended the push to
legalize and regulate marijuana, calling it “the most conservative stance”
on the issue.

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Parental Rights In Child Custody Disputes appeared first on Marijuana Moment
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