How soon could recreational marijuana become legal in Pa.?
HARRISBURG, Pa. (CBS) -- A third state surrounding Pennsylvania legalized recreational marijuana during the 2022 midterm election. With control of the state House set to change, could marijuana laws in the commonwealth change next?
"I never even thought this was going to happen in my lifetime, honestly," Raquel Walker said.
But there it was. Recreational marijuana became available for legal purchase in New Jersey earlier this year for someone like Walker, who says she's been smoking weed for a long time, just not legally until now.
"Buying marijuana off the street, you never know what they have or what's in it," Walker said.
New York will join New Jersey by the end of this year and then Maryland by the middle of next year.
Among other states surrounding Pennsylvania Delaware has decriminalized but not legalized the possession of small amounts of weed.
Only Ohio and West Virginia, like Pennsylvania, haven't gone that far.
Not long ago, it would have been difficult for some to imagine a medical marijuana advisory board meeting CBS Philadelphia attended in Harrisburg.
Among the highlights of the meeting, the number of people using medical marijuana is going up, the price is going down and now there's a new $50-a-month subsidy to help some low-income people afford medical marijuana.
But recreational marijuana with a key Republican state senator supporting it?
"We need to act sooner rather than later to establish an adult recreational use program," Republican state Sen. Mike Regan said.
With Democrats poised to take over the state House, could fully legal marijuana come to Pennsylvania next?
"That is really not at the top of our agenda," said Republican state Sen. Kim Ward, the state Senate President pro tempore-elect.
And state Senate Democrats?
"It doesn't have to be our top priority for us to get it done," state Sen. Sharif Street said. "I think it's a thing whose time has come and I think we will get it done"
House Democrats will control the agenda in that chamber, but that's will. No one knows how soon that will be because their razor-thin majority, includes three vacant seats.
They're in heavily blue districts, but they might not be filled until after special elections as late as May of next year.
