Marijuana Moment: Pennsylvania Lawmakers Should Legalize Marijuana This Year, Pittsburgh City Council Resolution Says

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Local officials in Pennsylvania’s second most populous city are calling on state lawmakers and the governor to urgently agree on a plan to legalize marijuana this year.

The Pittsburgh City Council on Tuesday adopted a resolution noting that despite legalization being enacted in surrounding states and the Trump administration’s “historic” move to federally reschedule marijuana, “Pennsylvania continues to treat cannabis possession as a criminal offense in many circumstances, resulting in ongoing arrests, prosecutions, and incarceration that disproportionately impact communities of color and low-income residents.”

Pennsylvania “is now surrounded by four of its five neighboring states—New York, New Jersey, Ohio, and Maryland—that have legalized adult-use recreational cannabis, creating an uneven regional landscape in which Pennsylvania residents routinely cross state lines to purchase legal cannabis,” the resolution says. “This regional disparity has caused Pennsylvania to fall significantly behind other states, resulting in the loss of substantial tax revenue, job creation, and economic opportunities as consumer spending flows out of the Commonwealth each day.”

Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) this month again included marijuana legalization in his budget request to lawmakers, as he has done for the past several sessions. But while the House of Representatives last year passed a bill to legalize cannabis with sales in state-run stores, the Republican-controlled Senate has so far not advanced any plan to end prohibition.

“Poll after poll demonstrates overwhelming bipartisan support” for the reform, the Pittsburgh resolution says, calling on state lawmakers to “act with urgency and pass comprehensive adult-use cannabis legalization during the 2026 legislative session.”

“Meaningful cannabis reform must prioritize decriminalization, social equity, expungement of prior cannabis-related offenses, expanded patient and veteran access, and inclusive economic opportunity for small businesses, workers, and communities historically harmed by prohibition,” the resolution sponsored by Councilmember Barb Warwick (D) says.

Meanwhile, as Pennsylvania’s governor promotes his latest call for marijuana legalization in the Keystone State, a coalition of drug policy and civil liberties organizations are urging him to play a leadership role in convening legislative leaders to get the job done this session.

In a letter led by the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) and sent to the governor earlier this month, the coalition noted that legalization has consistently made it into Shapiro’s budget requests, “reflecting both sound fiscal policy and the clear will of the people of the Commonwealth.”

“This competitive disadvantage grows more pronounced with each year of inaction,” the letter, which was also signed by groups including the ACLU of Pennsylvania, Doctors for Drug Policy Reform, Last Prisoner Project (LPP) and Law Enforcement Action Partnership (LEAP), said.

Pennsylvania House Democratic lawmakers have separately called on the GOP-controlled Senate to come to the table and pass a bill to legalize marijuana.

At a press conference this month, three Democratic members of the House who have championed adult-use legalization stressed the need to move on reform, laying blame for inaction on the Senate where even supporters of the policy change have so far been unable to deliver on the issue.

Reps. Rick Krajewski (D) and Dan Frankel (D), who sponsored a bill to legalize with state-run shops that advanced through the House last year, said they understand that the novel regulatory approach they envisioned may be “controversial” to some members, but that’s all the more reason for the Senate to bring their own ideas to the conversation to finally enact the reform.

House Speaker Joanna McClinton (D) said in December that legalizing marijuana is one way to create a “very important” revenue source for the state—and that it’s an achievable reform if only legislators could find “the will to do it.”

Bipartisan Pennsylvania lawmakers who’ve been working to enact adult-use legalization over recent sessions without success so far have also recently said that President Donald Trump’s federal marijuana rescheduling order could grease the wheels in 2026.

For what it’s worth, another top GOP senator—Sen. Scott Martin (R), chair of the chamber’s Appropriations Committee—said in December that he was skeptical about the prospects of enacting legalization in the 2026 session, in part because of the federal classification of cannabis that’s now expected to change. Of course, marijuana would still be federally illegal under Schedule III, so it’s unclear if a simple loosening of the law would move the needle enough from his perspective.

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A top aide to Pennsylvania’s governor said in September that lawmakers should stop introducing new competing legalization bills and instead focus on building consensus on the issue—while emphasizing that any measure that advances needs to contain equity provisions if the governor is going to sign it into law.

Sen. Dan Laughlin (R), for his part, said in August that the House “needs to pass the language in my bill and send it to my committee” after which point he “can negotiate with the Senate and the governor.”

The senator separately said recently that supporters are “picking up votes” to enact the reform this session.

Meanwhile, bipartisan Pennsylvania senators in October introduced a bill that would allow terminally ill patients to use of medical marijuana in hospitals.

Separately, the leading Republican candidate in the race to become the next governor of Pennsylvania dodged a question about her stance on legalizing marijuana—saying she doesn’t have a “policy position” on the issue and arguing that the sitting governor’s proposal for reform “way, way overstated” potential revenue.

The candidate, Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacy Garrity (R), pointed to neighboring Ohio, which launched its own adult-use cannabis market this year, saying “they generated about $115 million in revenue.” And while the populations of both states are relatively comparable, Shapiro’s budget projected $536.5 million in cannabis revenue in the first fiscal year of implementation.

She did, however, say that if Pennsylvania moves forward on enacting the reform, she’ll “make sure that it’s banked appropriately.”

Meanwhile, a Pennsylvania Democratic senator recently said that federal marijuana rescheduling would be “very influential” in advancing legalization in his state, giving “political cover” to GOP members on the fence about reform.

Polls have shown bipartisan support for legalization among voters, but the reform has consistently stalled in the legislature, due largely to GOP opposition. But not all Republican members are against the policy change—and one recently said she felt her party should seize the “opportunity to snatch” the issue from Democrats.

Photo courtesy of Max Jackson.

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