Gov. Josh Shapiro is again pushing for lawmakers to create an adult-use cannabis program, which would launch early next year.

Pennsylvania launched its medical marijuana program nine years ago, in April 2016. The governor believes this state has been losing money to its peers who took the next step in the meanwhile.

“Five of our neighboring states have legalized adult use cannabis. I’ve talked to the CEOs of the companies right across the border in [New] Jersey, Maryland and New York, who tell me that 60% of their customers in those shops are Pennsylvanians. We’re losing out on revenue,” Shapiro said during his 2025-26 budget address on Feb 4.

AIMEE DILGER

New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and Ohio have all legalized adult marijuana use in the last four years.

But Shapiro vision still faces opposition — mostly from those who question whether law enforcement and public health would suffer as a result.

At the same time, scientists believe the move would allow them to learn more about the risks, benefits and safe distribution of marijuana, which they say will continue to be used either way.

Viewers can learn more about the arguments on each side on the next edition of Keystone Edition Reports, which airs 7 p.m. Monday, April 7 on WVIA-TV.

Shapiro’s seeing lots of green

If approved, Shapiro’s $51.5 billion budget would establish an adult-use cannabis program and create several marijuana initiatives:

• $10 million for a restorative justice program from adult-use cannabis proceeds. That’s double his request from last year’s proposal.
• $25 million to the state Department of Agriculture to “help new small and small diverse businesses” enter the industry.
• $15 million to the state Department of Agriculture for operations
• $2.25 million to Pennsylvania State Police for enforcement and expungement
• $1.5 million to the state Department of Revenue for administration

The administration claims legalization will generate $250 million annually and $1.3 billion over the first five years.

The budget includes $15.6 million from an adult-use cannabis tax, $11.4 million from the sales and use tax on retail sales of cannabis and $509.5 million from license fees.

Aimee Dilger

As attorney general, Shapiro was publicly opposed to marijuana and prosecuted possession.

Elected governor in 2022, Shapiro explained his changed stance during a Honesdale Main Street Matters stop last February.

“Candidly, the thing I had to get over most, is that I am a father of four. And that I didn’t want to see my children … using marijuana. I didn’t want to see marijuana being in a place where it would be more readily accessible to young people across Pennsylvania,” Shapiro said in Honesdale. “And the reality is, the more I studied, the more I talked to experts, the more I talked to states that had legalized — our kids were more at risk of getting access to marijuana through the black market than through a regulated market.”

A district attorney’s fears

Not all law enforcement professionals share Shapiro’s opinion.

Wyoming County District Attorney Joseph Peters said he’s confident a recreational use program would “ensure a black market.”

He argued that black market sales would flourish as people realize they can buy marijuana on the street at lower rates than at state-regulated dispensaries.

“It’s only going to be worse. If there’s complete freedom to buy marijuana anywhere, it’ll be sold everywhere,” Peters said in an interview.

He fears legalization would lead to the growth of “Big Weed.”

“You know who will benefit from recreational marijuana legalization? Not individual people, not cities, not the Commonwealth, not government — (but) big corporations …”

He drew parallels with the opioid epidemic, which has its roots in corporate pharmaceutical practices, and with cigarette smoking.

Aimee Dilger

“We didn’t learn our lesson from ‘Big Tobacco’ … Big corporations are going to work to control the market and dominate as much as they can. That’s who will be the beneficiary,” Peters said. “I fear … the wreckage will be society and our children.”

‘Just legalize it and tax it’

Some state lawmakers see legalization as a way to crack down on the black market, however.

Sen. Marty Flynn (D-Scranton) said Pennsylvania enables black market trade from neighboring states and is losing out on millions of dollars per year by not legalizing adult use.

He argued that legalization would alleviate the opioid crisis by cracking down on laced drugs.

“All we do is we fuel a black market … People who buy from illicit dealers have to worry about things being sprinkled with fentanyl,” Flynn said. “Just legalize it and tax it … just like alcohol.”

But Peters also worries how law enforcement will be able to identify whether someone is high while behind the wheel, and issue DUI tickets.

Flynn acknowledged that there is nothing similar to a breathalyzer test for marijuana.

“That’s an issue that we’ve been dealing with on the medical side. But … if you’re going to use marijuana as an adult, it should be legal. Just that simple,” Flynn said.

In a hearing on Feb. 14, state Sen. Rosemary Brown (R-Tobyhanna) asked state police how they plan to adapt to possible legalization. She asked whether there was any technology that could determine when a driver had used marijuana, whether it was still in their system and if drivers would be prosecuted.

Lieutenant Colonel George Bivens, Deputy Commissioner of Operations, said “the short answer on the technology is it has not been perfected yet.”

Drivers could be prosecuted depending on the observations of the officer that made the stop and subsequent drug testing, he added.

Without dependable testing, officers will have to enforce driving laws based on their training and instinct.

The chemistry of cannabis

However, if recreational use is legalized, scientists and drug testing manufacturers will have more access to research opportunities into cannabis use and regulations.

AIMEE DILGER

Donald Mencer, a chemistry and biochemistry professor at Wilkes University, said he’s ambivalent about legalization, but it can open new doors to scientific research.

“Politicians are going to do what they’re going to do. People are going to do what they’re going to do, whether they’re buying a legal product or whether they’re buying an illicit product from somebody in an alley. If we move towards legalization, that will provide us with the opportunity to have scientists making sure that people are getting safe products,” Mencer said during an interview at Wilkes’ greenhouse, where cannabis is studied.

It’s a path scientists have seen before.

After lawmakers passed the 2018 U.S. Farm Bill legalizing hemp and its derivatives, CBD (Cannabidiol) popped up everywhere — in creams, gummies and vapes.

Marijuana and hemp come from the same plant, cannabis, but CBD is genetically modified to not get you high.

In addition to legalizing use and sale, the 2018 bill meant scientists were legally able to research those products.

Wilkes started its Cannabis Production and CBD Extraction certificate and bachelor of science degree in cannabis chemistry five years ago to give students a “competitive advantage in this soon-to-be billion-dollar industry.”

But without full legalization of marijuana, some research limits remain. Mencer compared marijuana research to alcohol studies during Prohibition (1920-1933).

That was when the federal government outlawed the production, sale and transportation of alcohol. It is widely understood to have been a failed experiment to limit alcoholism and the black market.

“We have a lot of other products on the market that we know are not 100% beneficial for people … (but) It’s not illegal for scientists to study alcohol in the U.S.,” Mencer said.

“The alcohol industry is regulated. When you buy a bottle of vodka from the state store, you can be assured that it has the amount of alcohol in it that it says on the label,” Mencer said.

But he said he worries about the safety of cannabis products bought at non-state-regulated smoke shops.

“Nobody does testing of these products … There’s really no regulatory body that is in charge of making sure that there’s monitoring for the quantity of the molecules, whether it’s CBD or THC, or contaminants that might be present in the products, like heavy metals or other things that would be detrimental to people’s health,” Mencer said.

“We’re just beginning to understand (cannabis),” he said.

At the bud: what’s in a cannabis plant?

CBD is the part of cannabis that’s legal in Pennsylvania. It can be used to treat conditions like anxiety, insomnia and in some cases, seizures. CBD comes from the hemp plant, which has less than 0.3% THC, the chemical that causes mind-altering effects.

Aimee Dilger

Without regulation, heavy metals from unsafe planting environments or other contaminants can pollute the plant.

William Terzaghi, a Wilkes professor in the biological and resistance science department, doubled down on what he said is a need for increased research access. A botanist by trade, he is studying how cannabis plants can be modified to endure unfavorable climate conditions like drought.

“Presently, we don’t really know what’s in it, and especially the illegally purchased stuff, marijuana. That’s the Wild West, you don’t really know what you’re getting,” Terzaghi said.

Recreational and medical marijuana use needs further study, he added. Even if someone takes medical marijuana as directed, Terzaghi said it may affect other medications they may use.

“You can start to develop some neurological problems, and also you can start to develop dependence … it isn’t the totally benign drug that we’ve been led to believe,” Terzaghi said.

Cannabis use disorder is a mental health condition where the use of cannabis is “problematic” and causes distress and/or impairs your life. It is a type of substance use disorder and was recognized in the DSM-5 in 2013.

Aimee Dilger

Mencer said scientists, doctors and mental health professionals are in the early stages of researching cannabis’s effect on the human body.

“People are beginning to talk about it a little bit more … So, we want to have scientists to help understand what’s going on. And people [have used] the product … for thousands of years. It’s grown on every continent in the world. So, it’s not going to go away — legalized or not legalized,” Mencer said.

The more scientists understand cannabis, the more they “can help improve people’s health,” added Mencer.

Shapiro’s goals

Back in the political realm Shapiro’s 2025-26 budget aims to legalize adult recreational use by July 2025 and start sales next January.

However, a bill would need to reach the governor’s desk by December to be passed before the new year, and neither side of the state legislature has introduced an adult use bill this year.

There is a bill in the state senate, SB 76, to allow medical marijuana patients to grow cannabis for their own use, but nothing like last session’s HB 2500, which would have established a recreational program under the state Department of Agriculture.

Legislative hesitation is broadly at odds with public opinion, however.

A poll from Change Research, which was commissioned by recreational use advocacy group, ResponsiblePA, reported in February that 68% of Pennsylvania voters supported adult recreational use of marijuana.

Similar polling from Pew Research reports 88% of U.S. adults say marijuana should be legal for medical or recreational use; 57% of respondents said marijuana should be legal for medical and recreational use, according to research published in March 2024, while 32% say that marijuana should be legal for medical use only.

Just 11% of Americans say that the drug should not be legal at all, the research found.

Flynn said he expects to see a new recreational use bill this year in the state legislature.

“Over 70% of Pennsylvanians want to see legalized marijuana,” Flynn said.

“It’s just a matter of time before that issue brings people from that industry to start getting politically active and holding their representatives accountable and their government officials accountable,” he said.