Pennsylvania House Democrats Ask Voters To Pressure Senators To Pass A Marijuana Legalization Bill

House Democrats in Pennsylvania are calling on voters to pressure state
senators to sign off on a House-passed bill that would legalize marijuana
and sell the drug through state-owned stores, saying the reform would
benefit health and safety and bring in billions of dollars in revenue for
the commonwealth.

After the bill—HB 1200, from Rep. Rick Krajewski (D)—narrowly passed the
House of Representatives in May, it proceeded to the Senate, where the Law
and Justice Committee promptly shot it down.

While other legalization proposals have since been filed in the state—including
from bipartisan lawmakers in both chambers—Senate Majority Leader Joe
Pittman (R) and others have already signaled disinterest in the reform.

In the new call to action on HB 1200, the Pennsylvania House Democratic
Caucus notes that lawmakers in the chamber “passed this modern, innovative
adult-use cannabis bill that puts public health first, generates billions
of dollars in revenue, creates jobs, and improves community safety.”

“Tell your senators that it’s time to legalize adult-use cannabis,” the
caucus said on social media, providing a link to a prewritten letter to
Pittman and a number of other Senate leaders.

The PA House passed a modern adult-use cannabis bill that puts public
health first, but the PA Senate Law & Justice Committee rejected this bill.

Tell your senators that it's time to legalize adult-use cannabis:
https://t.co/G0eTwfwfs2 pic.twitter.com/Z8QuGsxB6T

— PA House Democrats (@PaHouseDems) July 21, 2025



“I’m an adult and want to be treated like one. I also want the commonwealth
to stop losing out on billions of dollars in revenue,” the template letter
says. “Virtually every state surrounding Pennsylvania has legal adult-use
cannabis, and it’s time for us to pass a law giving adults the power to
choose.”

Polls have shown bipartisan support for legalization among voters, but the
reform has consistently stalled in the legislature, due largely 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.

Those who don’t want to use the Senate Democrats’ prewritten form can also contact
their senators directly.

In addition to pushback from Senate Majority Leader Pittman, another
Republican, Sen. Scott Martin, who chairs the influential Appropriations
Committee, told Lancaster Online earlier this month that he didn’t plan to
move on any adult-use legalization bills.

Nevertheless, one Republican senator sponsoring a legalization proposal
said last week that supporters in the legislature are “picking up votes.”

Sen. Dan Laughlin (R)—who has introduced a legalization bipartisan bill
with Sen. Sharif Street (D)—said support is growing because “people would
rather [legalize cannabis] than do a tax increase to try and balance a
budget.”

Rep. Amen Brown (D) subsequently said he intended to file a House companion
version of that measure, circulating a cosponsorship memo to colleagues
earlier this month.

Separately, just days after Laughlin and Street filed their measure, Reps.
Emily Kinkead (D) and Abby Major (R)—alongside eight other cosponsors—filed
legislation in the House to enact the reform. The pair have previously championed
other proposals to end prohibition.

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 the 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.

Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Pittman indicated in June 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,” said the governor, who
had criticized the Senate for abruptly derailing the House marijuana
legalization bill.

“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.”

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.

Following the Senate committee vote that scuttled HB 1200, lawmakers from
both chambers who support legalization have been trading criticisms about
each other’s roles in the stalled push to end prohibition.

Bill sponsor 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.

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.

In recent comments to that matter, Krajewski told local news outlet Spotlight
PA that for him to support a private model, he’d need a bill to include
protections for small businesses to ensure large companies don’t dominate
the market.

“For a private model to work, these are the things that are critical,” he
said. “Until we’re given any kind of direction about a path, I don’t see
why we should do all the work.”

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.

*Photo courtesy of Philip Steffan.*

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Pass A Marijuana Legalization Bill appeared first on Marijuana Moment.