Pittsburgh lawmaker seeking bipartisan marijuana legalization bill

Pennsylvania is almost completely surrounded by states with legalized recreational marijuana and a Pittsburgh lawmaker is hoping the Keystone State will follow suit before competing states completely overtake the market.

State Rep. Emily Kinkead, a Democrat from Brighton Heights, is introducing a bill to legalize recreational marijuana in Pennsylvania. She said recreational marijuana dispensaries in Ohio should launch in 2025, and they already are lining up locations near the Pennsylvania border.

“The fact that Ohio has legalized, and is about to launch, is a real impetus for us to do this as soon as we can,” Kinkead said.

House Bill 2500, should be introduced in the legislature by Friday, said Kinkead. It is a bipartisan effort that is co-sponsored by state Rep. Aaron Kaufer, a Republican from Luzerne County.

Efforts to legalize recreational cannabis in Pennsylvania have increased in frequency since the state started its medical marijuana program in 2018, but they have failed to gain traction in the legislature.

Kinkead said she believes her bill could be different because, she said, it follows Gov. Josh Shapiro’s lead and it comes as attitudes toward recreational marijuana are continuing to evolve.

Shapiro proposed legalizing recreational marijuana as part of his proposed budget and assumes, if passed, that it would bring in about $250 million in annual revenue within five years.

Kinkead thinks the governor’s estimates are a bit low and said it could bring in even more, based on how much other states have raised following legalization.

Pro-legalization group Responsible PA estimates that recreational marijuana would create about a $2 billion market in Pennsylvania, create about 30,000 jobs and lead to an additional $4.2 billion in economic output.

Kinkead expects the bill to get serious discussion during the fall session. If passed this year, it would take at least a year before recreational marijuana is available for sale.

She said getting the program up as quickly as possible would be a priority to ensure the “illicit market is not able to come into and take over.”

The bill would create an adult-use recreational marijuana program within the Department of Agriculture.

Kinkead said the bill would combine the state’s medical program with a recreational program, and house them both in the agriculture department. She said the department has the capacity to manage the programs and allows the state’s farming industry to get involved in growing.

“This bill takes all of what the governor has proposed and the industry is supportive,” she said. “It avoids the pitfall that other states have had by learning from their mistakes.”

Kinkead said her bill also ensures that small businesses, especially those run by people of color and women, will be prioritized for dispensary permits after legalization.

She said legalization in other states without these protections has led to bigger corporations snatching up all the permits ahead of small businesses.

The bill also provides funding and support for law enforcement to enforce cannabis regulations, and 5% of generated revenue would go toward supporting public defenders. Kinkead said indigent defense in Pennsylvania is extremely underfunded, and money generated from recreational cannabis should go to helping those who have been harmed by overly punitive marijuana convictions in the past.

Kinkead said the bill also would clear cannabis-related criminal convictions from Pennsylvania residents’ records, which is known as a “clean slate” policy.

While past efforts to pass recreational marijuana bills through the legislature have failed, this cycle the state House is controlled by Democrats, who generally are more supportive of legalization.

Former Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, came out in support of recreational marijuana in 2019, but both chambers of the legislature were controlled by Republicans then.

If a bill was to pass the state House, it could put pressure on Republicans, who control the state Senate.

Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward, R-Hempfield, criticized Shapiro’s budget proposal in February as reckless and said assuming recreational cannabis laws will pass the legislature easily was foolish.

Ward expressed hesitancy that the chambers would support legalization.