The governor of Pennsylvania will once again put marijuana legalization in his budget request this year—but the pathway to enact the reform remains murky in the legislature, as GOP leadership continues to cast doubts about the practicality of the proposal.
Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) has called for legalization in his past two budget requests, projecting a significant windfall of tax revenue for the Keystone State which he says is currently being lost to surrounding states that have implemented legal cannabis markets.
“Frankly, we’re losing all kinds of revenue to other states,” Shapiro told The Philadelphia Inquirer this month.
Whether he will make any adjustments to past proposals when the budget is released next week—including potential tweaks to his call to impose a relatively high tax rate of 20 percent on cannabis products—remains to be seen.
But the prospects of advancing any adult-use legalization measure remain in question, with top Republicans such as Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R) stating that there are logistical challenges that he’s unsure lawmakers will be able to overcome.
“It’s a practicality issue more than a philosophical issue,” he said, referencing the continued federal prohibition on cannabis and his concerns about the state’s ability to effectively
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