Pennsylvania the next state to legalize Marijuana?

Lame · Feb 12, 2013

Pennsylvania will likely be the next state to see a marijuana legalization bill introduced this year, as state Sen. Daylin Leach (D-King of Prussia) announced at a Monday press conference that he would be filing one shortly.

After voters in Colorado and Washington approved marijuana legalization last November, the push is now on at the statehouse. Legalization bills have already been filed in Hawaii, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire, and bills are also expected shortly in Maine and Vermont.

The bill will propose a system of taxation and regulation of marijuana commerce.

"This past November, the people of Washington State and Colorado voted to fully legalize marijuana," said Leach. "It is time for Pennsylvania to be a leader in jettisoning this modern-day prohibition, and ending a policy that has been destructive, costly and anti-scientific."

Supporting the bill were drug reform groups and public health professionals.

"Our nation can acknowledge the dangers of cigarettes, alcohol and marijuana while still permitting their use," said Dr. David Nathan, MD, clinical associate professor at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. "The only logically and morally consistent argument for marijuana prohibition necessitates the criminalization of all harmful recreational drugs, including alcohol, nicotine and caffeine. We can agree that such an infringement on personal freedoms is as impractical as it is un-American. The time has come to accept that our nation's attitude toward marijuana has been misguided for generations and that the only rational approach to cannabis is to legalize, regulate and tax it."

"Cops see the ineffectiveness and harms of marijuana prohibition up close, every day," said Neill Franklin, a retired Baltimore narcotics cop and the executive director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. "Keeping marijuana illegal doesn't significantly reduce use, but it does give tax-free profits to violent gangs and cartels that control the black market. Now, thanks to Sen. Leach's proposal, Pennsylvania has a chance to join Colorado and Washington in letting police focus on the job we signed up to do -- keeping the public safe -- instead of being distracted by chasing down marijuana users."

"NORML applauds Sen. Leach for taking this important step forward to end the failed policy of marijuana prohibition in his state. Pennsylvania has long been considered a bellwether state that sets the precedent for politics across the country, as such it is both exciting and encouraging to see the Keystone State take up this crucial dialogue," said Erik Altieri, Communications Director for NORML, "Marijuana prohibition costs the state of Pennsylvania over $300 million a year in enforcement costs and tens of millions a year in lost potential tax revenue, while doing little to keep the substance out of the hands of children or lower use rates. It is time for a new policy that works for the state and its people. We encourage all of Sen. Leach’s colleagues in Harrisburg to join him in this call for rational marijuana laws."

It could be an uphill battle. Leach spent the last two sessions trying to get medical marijuana bills passed, to no avail, and that was with strong public support for medical marijuana. A recent Franklin and Marshall College poll had support for medical marijuana at 82%, but support for legalization at only 36%. That's up 14 points from 2006, but still well below majority support.
Harrisburg, PA
United States
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http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2013/feb/11/marijuana_legalization_bill_comi

HARRISBURG – State Sen. Daylin Leach, D-Montgomery often compares Pennsylvania’s marijuana laws to the alcohol prohibition laws of the early 20th century.

He says it’s a culture war that one day will end. Maybe sooner than one might think.

LEACH: The Montgomery County state Senator wants to legalize marijuana in Pennsylvania and sell it alongside alcohol in the state-run liquor stores.
“I’m sure that in 10 years, we will look back on prohibition as a quaint relic of the past,” Leach said.

Leach, one of the state’s most progressive lawmakers, introduced legislation to legalize marijuana use for adults age 21 and older. Leach’s legislation envisions marijuana sold alongside alcohol in state liquor stores and beer distributors, with production, distribution and sale regulated in a similar way as alcohol.

Leach made the social and economic case for marijuana legalization at a Monday afternoon news conference, where he said that keeping marijuana illegal makes criminals out of people who “smoke a plant.”

Leach said keeping marijuana illegal is irrational on several levels, comparing it to alcohol and tobacco that can be deadly but are legal. Marijuana, conversely, is prescribed medically in 18 states.

“Like the original prohibition, the prohibition of marijuana has resulted in damages far in excess of what the actual substance we’re controlling could ever do,” he said. “This is a cruel, irrational policy that we’ve had for 75 years without revisiting.”

But in Pennsylvania – especially this session – Leach’s idea is little more than a pipe dream.

Janet Kelley, deputy director of communications for Gov. Tom Corbett, said he would not sign a bill legalizing marijuana.

“Governor Corbett has personally witnessed the devastation of illegal drugs on Pennsylvania communities throughout his career,” Kelley said in an email to PA Independent. “He does not believe that loosening restrictions on illegal drugs is in the interest of public safety.”

Leach said that he didn’t think it was rational for the governor to “keep people in prison or threat of prison for marijuana” while offering up a proposal to increase the number of places that can sell alcohol, referring to Corbett’s latest liquor privatization push.

Leach said the administration is leaving millions of dollars on the table.

The state spends about $325 million a year prosecuting nearly 25,000 marijuana arrests, according federal statistics from 2006. If the drug were legalized, Leach said they would not only save that money, but make additional millions from taxing marijuana — at least $25 million a year, he said.

Opponents to legalization point out that social costs could outweigh the benefits. The Office of National Drug Control Policy compares the situation to alcohol, which they say costs more than it takes in.

“Federal excise taxes collected on alcohol in 2007 totaled around $9 billion; states collected around $5.5 billion,” reads the federal government fact sheet on legalization. “Combined, these amounts are less than 10 percent of the estimated $185 billion in alcohol‐related costs to health care, criminal justice, and the workplace in lost productivity.”

The office bolsters the drug’s danger by citing negative effects of marijuana as “dependence, respiratory and mental illness, poor motor performance, and impaired cognitive and immune system functioning.”

Leach doesn’t necessarily have public opinion on his side. The latest Franklin and Marshall College poll found that 55 percent of polled Pennsylvania voters oppose marijuana legalization, compared to 36 percent in support.

However, legalization marijuana for medical use has widespread bipartisan support. The poll found 82 percent of polled voters “strongly” or somewhat” favor allowing adults to use marijuana if a doctor recommends it. About 76 percent of polled voters said the same in 2006. The poll surveyed 622 Pennsylvania voters between Jan. 29 and Feb. 3, with a margin of error of 3.9 percentage points.

Terry Madonna, executive director of the Center for Politics and Public Opinion at the college, called the support “overwhelming.” But without any real legislative push, the concept wouldn’t go far.

“To do this it take the leadership from the Legislature and the governor to endorse it,” he said, “and I haven’t heard that to be the case.”

Leach said while he supports medical marijuana proposals, he does not think that solves the problem of “marijuana prohibition.”

Allen St. Pierre, executive director of the Washington, D.C.,-based National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, has lobbied on behalf of state and federal policy changes for decades.

He said seeing a legalization proposal pop up in Pennsylvania was surprising, but that it’s happening more and more — especially since voters in Washington state and Colorado approved legalization in a referendum in the November 2012 election.

“We did not have the commonwealth of Pennsylvania on our radar scope at all,” St. Pierre said. “We think that’s indicative of how politically salient the issue for marijuana reform is today.”

Ten states have legalization bills pending, compared to one state five years ago, St.Pierre said. And a federal discussion began on Capitol Hill last week with pro-marijuana proposals from Reps. Jared Polis, D-Colo., and Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore.

Their bills would create federal laws regulating production and retail sale for marijuana in states that have already legalization consumption for medical or recreational uses.

“Mr. Leach may be slightly ahead of the curve in Pennsylvania, but he’s pretty much on the curve nationally,” St. Pierre said.

Contact Melissa Daniels at [email protected]
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http://paindependent.com/2013/02/marijuana-legalization-a-pa-senators-pipe-dream/

Cabbage · Feb 12, 2013

I think its interesting why all of a sudden NOW America is legalizing it. I think though people will get used to the feeling of Marijuana and move up to other drugs sadly. Thats my only concern.

Lame · Feb 12, 2013

Cabbage said: ↑

I think its interesting why all of a sudden NOW America is legalizing it. I think though people will get used to the feeling of Marijuana and move up to other drugs sadly. Thats my only concern.
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Can't move up to other drugs if its legal and regulated. No more drug dealers to offer you crack when you just wanna buy a dime bag, But hey we all got our own opinions and i respect that. Also places in europe where all drugs are decriminalized they have a lower percentage of overall drug use.

BootyLove · Feb 12, 2013

Cabbage said: ↑

I think its interesting why all of a sudden NOW America is legalizing it. I think though people will get used to the feeling of Marijuana and move up to other drugs sadly. Thats my only concern.
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All drugs should be allowed, if you're doing it your own home and not a threat to anyone. Your body, do whatever the fuck you want with it. imo

(i smoke weed, don't do any other drugs).

FlyingForwards · Mar 4, 2013

Weed should be legal everywhere, not sure abut others.

catedav · Oct 24, 2013

There are many state that legalize marijuana, like for WA and CO. Voters in Washington state and Colorado recently approved measures that lead to cannabis decriminalization, while a similar law was defeated in Oregon. Some feel it was the wrong move, but decriminalizing it is set to yield some severe economic advantages.

Jack · Oct 24, 2013

This is good. I don't smoke marijuana I hope New Zealand legalizes it. It will cut down on a lot of spending in the penal sector (crime rates have dropped severely in the places that have legalized marijuana) and will even earn them some money through marijuana licenses to sell, etc. From what I understand of marijuana also, it's pretty much harmless and is only bad if it is used as a gateway drug. But it's like you said lame, since they aren't purchasing it from anyone shifty, there won't be the availability of harder drugs.

I don't see any negatives.

Emperor Nero · Oct 24, 2013

I was studying marijuana laws in Virginia and it turns out that we have medical marijuana laws that have been on the books since the 70s. The bad thing about is that it says that a doctor has to prescribe it. To prescribe a drug it has to be tested and approved by the FDA, so it is there it just isn't useful.

Lame · Oct 25, 2013

Dat gravedig.

Darkest Dream · Oct 25, 2013

While I don't personally smoke I do generally support the legalization of drugs. Not on the tired arguments of the "health benefits" or "tax revenue" but rather because I believe in self-ownership, and peoples rights to their own bodies.

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Pennsylvania the next state to legalize Marijuana?

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