The secretary of Pennsylvania’s Department of Agriculture says he’s “excited” about the possibility of his agency overseeing an adult-use marijuana market, as the governor has proposed. And he said the state is uniquely positioned to leverage the reform, in part because farmers there are “really good at growing things.”
At a hearing before the House Appropriations Committee on Thursday, lawmakers pressed Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding on the plan to have his department hold regulatory control of the industry under a proposal from Gov. Josh Shapiro (D).
Redding said officials are still “very early in those conversations, but we take the vote of confidence in what we have done around plant and animal and food experiences with regulation—and all of that’s transferable.”
“It’s very few times that you can introduce a new crop. So we see this as an opportunity for economic development in Pennsylvania,” he said. “We’re really good at growing things. This is the growing of a crop. All of that is transferable.”
“We think there’s an opportunity for both investment in those farms and those farm communities,” he added. “So we’re excited about it, and I think it’s a really good moment.”
The secretary acknowledged
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