Legalizing Marijuana: Pennsylvania Senators Unveil Marijuana Bill
Follow KDKA-TV: Facebook | Twitter
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Recreational marijuana just got one step closer to being legalized, after two Pennsylvania senators unveiled a new bill.
Senator Daylin Leach, and co-author, Senator Sharif Street are circulating their latest proposal, Senate Bill 350, to colleagues for co-sponsorship.
The bill would allow anyone 21 and older to use recreational marijuana in Pennsylvania, and each household could also grow up to six marijuana plants at a time for personal use.
The bill also allows home delivery of marijuana.
Using marijuana in public would still be prohibited, but regulation will allow businesses to permit the use of cannabis.
Those businesses could include cannabis lounges.
The bill would also allow small state farms and businesses the opportunity to participate in the new industry by growing marijuana.
Growing micro-licenses would be done by tier.
Tier one license holders could grow up to 12 plants at a time, including at their home.
Tier two license holders could grow up to 40 plants at a time.
Tier three license holders would be required to have a grow facility but could grow up to 150 plants at a time.
Senate Bill 350 says the tax revenue from legal marijuana would go toward public education. School districts would be allowed to use the money to invest in their schools or reduce property taxes.
The bill also aims to enable those who have been harmed by prohibition to get out of prison and expunge their criminal records.
More and more states are successfully implementing marijuana legalization, and we need to keep learning from their efforts. Any change would take legislation. But I think it is time for Pennsylvania to take a serious and honest look at recreational marijuana. https://t.co/LHOmYKzMyp
— Governor Tom Wolf (@GovernorTomWolf) December 19, 2018
"I think there is just an enormous wealth of reasons why we should go full Colorado as I've campaigned on," Lt. Gov.-elect John Fetterman told KDKA.
Fetterman has long supported full legalization of marijuana, while Wolf -- during the campaign last year -- was much more hesitant, saying he wasn't sure the state was ready for it.
"The fact that now he's open to this, again, doesn't surprise me because that's the kind of leadership Gov. Wolf has," said Fetterman.
Fetterman has no doubts of the benefits of legalizing marijuana.
"From a revenue standpoint, the enormous amount of revenue it could generate -- the fact that you would take a popular product, for lack of a better phrase, out of the shadows and regulate it and tax it and make it readily available and removing the criminality from it," he said. "I think it's all upside."
But Republicans, who control the legislature, are not yet convinced with the Senate Republican leader calling it "reckless and irresponsible."