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Legalize it?

The question of recreational cannabis comes to Pa

Should marijuana be legal for recreational use?

A bill recently introduced in the General Assembly would do just that.

House Bill 2600 was filed by Allegheny County Democratic Rep. Jake Wheatley late last month and would make recreational marijuana legal for anyone over the age of 21.

It would also have law enforcement consequences.

“My bill would immediately release people jailed for crimes associated with cannabis,” Wheatley said in a statement. “Those who have criminal histories related to cannabis would be expunged and professional and driver’s licenses that were revoked or suspended due to cannabis-related crimes would be reinstated. For far too long, the criminal justice system has unfairly punished Pennsylvanians, especially minorities, who are caught with cannabis.”

Wheatley’s statement cited the Auditor General estimating $500 million in possible revenue generation from the legalization of marijuana.

The bill, which amends the state’s medical marijuana statute, also changes all instances of the word “marijuana” to “cannabis.”

According to Wheatley’s statement, the word change is “in order to stop the demonization of Mexican immigrants and minorities, who some Southern and Midwest politicians in the 1930s claimed were bringing the plant into the country to use as poison.”

The bill indicates that marijuana for a recreational use will be taxed twice.

“A tax is imposed on the gross receipts of a grower/processor received from the sale of recreational cannabis or cannabis products by a grower/processor to another grower/professor or dispensary, to be paid by the grower/processor at a rate of 10 percent,” the bill states, though it won’t be levied on a grower/processor that partners with a Pennsylvania farm for production.

The second tax hits the end purchaser.

“An excise tax is imposed at the point of sale of recreational cannabis or cannabis products at the rate of 19 percent,” the bill states. “A person required to collect the tax shall clearly provide notice of the assessment of the tax to the consumer through advertising or separate listing on a sales receipt or invoice.”

The taxes would be paid quarterly – 85 percent into the state’s general fund and 15 percent to the Department of Corrections “for jail diversion services, expungement services, re-entry programs, workforce development, technical assistance and mentoring services for economically disadvantaged persons in communities disproportionately impacted by high rates of arrest and incarceration for marijuana offenses.”

Medical marijuana is currently taxed at a rate of five percent.

The bill outlines several specific actions that were illegal before but would be permitted if this bill was passed – possession paraphernalia, growing marijuana, possession marijuana, sharing with another adult and using marijuana in public.

The bill further states that employers do not have to permit recreational marijuana in the workplace but also can’t terminate or discipline an employee for testing positive.

The legislation indicates that current dispensaries will be able to dispense recreational marijuana if enacted. The closest dispensaries to Warren County are located in Erie and DuBois.

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