HARRISBURG, Pa. — A republican and democratic state senators held a discussion on legalizing cannabis for adult use in Pennsylvania. This was the first discussion of what will be many after they joined together to introduce legislation in February.
"The ending of the prohibition of cannabis is long overdue," said Sen. Shariff Street, a democrat from Philadelphia County.
As many as 60 percent of Pennsylvanians support legalizing adult use of cannabis. Tuesday morning, Senators Street and Laughlin stressed how they want to legalize cannabis in a responsible way.
The bill would set the minimum age for legal consumption of recreational marijuana at 21, and would also provide the appropriate deterrence to keep marijuana out of the hands of anyone under age 21.
One are of focus was helping communities harmed by the war on drugs.
"Senator Street and I did not want the Phil Morris of cannabis and take over the entire state," said Sen. Laughlin. "We want this as part of the social equity part of this bill. We want people of color and communities harmed by the war on drugs to have a legitimate shot of getting into this business and lifting their families out of poverty."
Their other focus is on small businesses and farmers. They want to ensure a number of micro-grow licenses will be distributed to them.
"Pennsylvania has one of the best small farmer communities in the country and we want to make sure they can participate and this helps them," said Sen. Street.
There are still a number of issues to tackle, including impairment and how enforcement would work. The senators plan to continue holding these roundtable discussions to improve their legislation.