Pennsylvania Lawmakers Disagree On Best Way To Regulate Marijuana If It’s Legalized

*“I never say never. I would certainly be open to discussion.”*

*By Ford Turner, The Center Square*

If Pennsylvania decides to legalize recreational marijuana, which
government agency should run the show?

Gov. Josh Shapiro’s (D) proposed budget for 2026-27 anticipates lawmakers
will legalize it and $729 million in new revenue will be generated next
fiscal year. But his last budget contained a similar proposal that failed
to get through the Legislature. A key disagreement was which part of
government should oversee things.

Now, as lawmakers start to consider Shapiro’s latest budget pitch, it
appears that still no resolution has been reached in the divided
Legislature.

A new “Cannabis Control Board” would be formed under a bill sponsored by
Republican Sen. Dan Laughlin of Erie County, who chairs a Senate committee
that is key to the process. The bill does not carry out legalization—that
would be done separately—but Laughlin believes the new board is needed to
oversee the state’s already-existing medical marijuana program.
Recreational marijuana could be added to its duties later, he said.

Meanwhile, Democratic Rep. Dan Frankel of Pittsburgh, who heads an
important committee in the House, believes the state Liquor Control Board
(LCB) is a good choice. Public hearings on potential legalization indicated
youth access and public health issues were primary concerns, and Frankel
said “the LCB does a very good job” on those when it comes to alcohol.

Last year, the Frankel-led House Health Committee passed a legalization
bill that put recreational marijuana under the LCB. When the bill reached
the Senate, it was rejected by the Laughlin-led Law and Justice Committee.

Laughlin said the Cannabis Control Board bill must pass for there to be any
hope of legalization this year. Frankel said he is at least willing to take
a look at the bill.

“I never say never,” Frankel said. “I would certainly be open to
discussion.”

Legalization is one of several steps proposed by Shapiro to help close a
roughly $5 billion gap between what Pennsylvania spends and what it brings
in. But still another faction of lawmakers thinks legalization is simply a
bad choice.

One of them, Republican Rep. Kathy Rapp of Warren County, said a price
would be paid for human services, rehabilitation and law enforcement that
would outstrip any new revenue.

Rapp said she is especially concerned about youth addiction, harmful
effects on mental health, impaired driving and people being high at work.
She pointed out that page 34 of the Pennsylvania Driver’s Manual issued by
PennDOT contains the red-letter statement: “Drugs affect your brain
function and can seriously impair your ability to drive safely. For
example, marijuana can slow reaction time, impair judgment of time and
distance and decrease coordination.”

A recent study published in JAMA, the journal of the American Medical
Association, said many individuals can use marijuana without major problems
but 10 percent to 30 percent develop “cannabis use disorder” that can
include low moods, anxiety, apathy and impaired learning and memory.

The Shapiro administration, Rapp said, has significantly overestimated the
financial benefits.

“It doesn’t really matter to me what part of the administration they put it
under,” Rapp said. “It is the product itself, and what it does to our
population, that I am concerned about.”

The pressure on lawmakers to approve recreational use in Pennsylvania is
only increased by the fact that most bordering states have already approved
a program.

Frankel said legalization makes sense as a source of new revenue “that is
sitting right in front of us.” Besides bringing a wealth of knowledge on
marketing and regulating an intoxicating substance, Frankel said, the track
record of the LCB demonstrates it would be friendly to small business –
something he said is largely missing from the state’s medical marijuana
dynamic.

There also was an argument, he said, for “not creating an entire new
bureaucracy.”

A motivating factor for Laughlin is the belief that the Cannabis Control
Board is needed, whether or not there is a vote on legalization. The
existing medical marijuana program, which was approved by lawmakers in
2016, is regulated by the state Department of Health.

There have been issues that weren’t “handled as well as they could have
been,” Laughlin said, without being specific. The net effect, he said, is
that half or more of the people who get doctor-approved medical marijuana
cards are doing it for recreational purposes.

That, he said, is an argument to move the program under a standalone entity
like the Cannabis Control Board.

*This story was first published by The Center Square.*

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If It’s Legalized appeared first on Marijuana Moment.