A state Senate committee killed a bill that would have allowed recreational marijuana sales in Pennsylvania, jeopardizing key funding in Gov. Josh Shapiro's proposed 2025-2026 budget.
Six Republican senators and one Democrat - state Sen. Lisa Boscola - voted no. Three Democrats, including Sen. Marty Flynn of Lackawanna County, voted yes.
During a committee hearing Tuesday, Boscola, a Lehigh Valley Democrat, said she couldn’t support a bill that “has no chance of passing the Senate.”
“I don't think it's a serious attempt to advance legalizing marijuana legislation,” Boscola said.
Committee Chair Dan Laughlin, a Republican and supporter of legalization, also voted no. Laughlin said allowing the Liquor Control Board to monopolize sales would chase small private-sector sellers out of the market.
“A government retailer … will also undermine the hundreds of millions [of dollars] in financial investments made by current medical marijuana operators, who would quickly lose any market share and infrastructure invested into medical dispensaries,” Laughlin said.
He also rebuked plans to criminalize growing five or more cannabis plants at home. The bill, he said, would make illegal cultivation a second-degree misdemeanor punishable by up to two years in prison and up to a $5,000 fine.
“So, when we're talking about expungement in this bill, and then to … threaten people with prison and fines seems counterproductive,” Laughlin said.
The bill provided a path to expunge the records of people prosecuted for small amounts of cannabis.
Boscola called on Laughlin to introduce his often-mentioned legalization bill. If passed, that bill would a newly created Cannabis Regulatory Control Board would regulate marijuana sales. Private businesses could sell and cultivate marijuana with proper permits.
Laughlin said his bill isn’t ready.
Local committee member reacts
Flynn blamed Republicans’ disdain towards the Liquor Control Board for the bill's failure to pass.
“Injecting marijuana into that system probably would have some hiccups, but I think they would be able to absorb it. But my colleagues didn't feel that way,” Flynn said in a telephone interview.
Flynn said most opponents do not want to take the time to figure out how to implement an adult-use program.
Marijuana legislation is inherently complicated. Flynn acknowledged in a March interview that police do not have anything similar to an alcohol breathalyzer to enforce laws against driving while high.
“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 then.
He doubled down on expounding the financial benefits of recreational use. Almost 80% of Pennsylvanians want legalized recreational marijuana on the market, he said.
Similar March 2024 polling from Pew Research found 89% of U.S. adults say marijuana should be legal for medical or recreational use - 57% for medical and recreational use and 32% for medical use only.
Only 11% of Americans say that the drug should not be legal at all, the research found.
Flynn said Pennsylvania loses billions of dollars in taxes because all neighboring states, except West Virginia, have legalized marijuana.
“When are you going to be fiscally responsible enough to realize that the money is going somewhere else?” Flynn said.
In a strictly party-line 102-101 vote, the Democratic-controlled House voted May 7 to pass the bill.
In his February budget address, Shapiro, a former legalization opponent, proposed legalizing and taxing marijuana to raise $1.3 billion in a five-year period.
