Pennsylvania Black Lawmakers Step Up Push For Marijuana Legalization With Focus On Social Equity

With marijuana legalization again on the table in the Pennsylvania legislature, Black lawmakers in the state who’ve long championed reform are sharing their perspectives on the urgency of ending prohibition with a focus on social justice.

At the Black Cannabis Week event hosted by the Diasporic Alliance for Cannabis Opportunities (DACO) last week, Sen. Sharif Street (D) and Reps. Chris Rabb (D), Amen Brown (D), Darisha Parker (D) and Napoleon Nelson (D) joined activists to discuss their legislative priorities and motivations behind advancing legalization in the Keystone State.

As Election Day approaches, Nelson stressed that Pennsylvania lawmakers face a challenge in legislating in a state that’s “this weird battleground that the rest of the nation just kind of looks at with an eyebrow raised,” suggesting that the unique political dynamic could complicate passing something like marijuana legalization.

“We got to figure out how in the world we can provide those opportunities that meet everybody” in an equitable manner, he said.

“There are plenty of folks who have already taken a bite out of this apple,” the representative said, referencing the enactment of legalization in surrounding states such as New York.

He added that Pennsylvania’s experience could be partly shaped by the federal marijuana rescheduling effort.

“What does that look like? We’ve get to learn from everyone else’s successes and everyone else’s failures,” he said. “And if we’re honest, in this room, we’ve got more failures from a social equity perspective to learn from those successes.”

Nelson also sought to address the question of what equity looks like for Pennsylvania under a legal cannabis law.

“I want everybody to think about and envision 10 years from now, if we pass this bill this month or next month or whatever, 10 years from now, we could be in a space where our marketplace is relatively saturated. If we’ve done our jobs the right, social equity entrepreneurs have have been identified, they’ve been licensed, they’ve been given the resources they need to be successful. Some of them have had successful exits. Many, hopefully, will still be continuing to do business in the state, but they perhaps won’t need a fund from the state, from a financial resource perspective, and that’s when this bill needs to make the most sense.”

Rabb put the situation for bluntly, discussing the need to have the communities most impacted by prohibition shape Pennsylvania’s marijuana market.

“I’m fucking tired of crumbs. Who cuts up the fucking pie?” he said. “The people closest to the pain should be cutting up the pie… I’m a student of history. We free us. We free us. We’re not waiting for anyone else to free us.”

Street added that lawmakers need to have “real metrics” to measure success in terms of equity under a legal marijuana system. And those metrics should help inform “subsequent versions” so legislators “can make sure that the revisions continue to meet the needs of our community.”

Parker also gave the audience some practical advice, noting the short window of time that lawmakers have this session to address key issues, including cannabis reform.

“If you don’t know when we are finished our session this year, shame on y’all. Look at the calendar,” she said. “We have a short calendar for you to get your objectives to us. Now, I said that in a nice way, but I’m dead serious… If you have objectives and you want us to address them, make sure you get it in front of us now so we can bring it home.”

Last month Reps. Aaron Kaufer (R) and Emily Kinkead (D) formally introduced a bipartisan marijuana legalization bill, alongside 15 other cosponsors.

In July, the Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) said the administration and lawmakers would “come back and continue to fight” for marijuana legalization and other policy priorities that were omitted from budget legislation he signed into law that month.

Meanwhile, a top GOP Pennsylvania senator who has long expressed concerns about marijuana legalization told advocates last week that she’s against arresting people over cannabis, noting that the policy change could protect her son and disclosing that if it weren’t for marijuana, she might not have met her husband, according to an activist who spoke with her.

As Pennsylvania’s legislature reconvenes amid rising pressure to enact legalization, advocates view the comments from Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward (R) as a positive sign that the dam on cannabis reform measures might be weakening in the commonwealth.

A poll released last month found that strong majorities of Pennsylvania voters in five key tossup districts are in favor of legalizing marijuana in the state—and they want to see lawmakers enact the reform imminently.

At a press briefing in July, the chair of the Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus seemed to temper expectations about the potential timeline of passing legalization legislation, pointing out that the rest of the session will likely be too politically charged heading into the November election to get the job done this year.

Other lawmakers have emphasized the urgency of legalizing as soon as possible given regional dynamics, while signaling that legislators are close to aligning House and Senate proposals.

New data has also underscored the urgency of enacting cannabis reform, revealing that more than 12,000 people were arrested for cannabis possession in the Keystone state last year.

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Meanwhile, a report commissioned by activists projected that Pennsylvania would see up to $2.8 billion in adult-use marijuana sales in the first year of implementing legalization, generate as much as $720 million in tax revenue and create upwards of 45,000 jobs.

Street and Dan Laughlin (R) also participated in an X Spaces event in June where they said the votes are there to pass a marijuana legalization bill as soon as this year, though they stressed that the governor needs to work across the aisle to get the job done—and argued that it would be helpful if the federal government implemented its proposed cannabis rescheduling rule sooner rather than later.

Street was also among advocates and lawmakers who participated in a cannabis rally at the Pennsylvania State Capitol in June, where there was a significant emphasis on the need to incorporate social equity provisions as they move to advance legalization.

Laughlin, for his part, also said an event in May that the state is “getting close” to legalizing marijuana, but the job will only get done if House and Senate leaders sit down with the governor and “work it out.”

Warren County, Pennsylvania District Attorney Robert Greene, a registered medical cannabis patient in the state, filed a lawsuit in federal court in January seeking to overturn a ban preventing medical marijuana patients from buying and possessing firearms.

Two Pennsylvania House panels held a joint hearing to discuss marijuana legalization in April, with multiple lawmakers asking the state’s top liquor regulator about the prospect of having that agency run cannabis shops.

Also in April, members of the House Health Committee had a conversation centered on social justice and equity considerations for reform.

At a prior meeting in March, members focused on criminal justice implications of prohibition and the potential benefits of reform.

At another hearing in February, members looked at the industry perspective, with multiple stakeholders from cannabis growing, dispensing and testing businesses, as well as clinical registrants, testifying.

At the subcommittee’s previous cannabis meeting in December, members heard testimony and asked questions about various elements of marijuana oversight, including promoting social equity and business opportunities, laboratory testing and public versus private operation of a state-legal cannabis industry.

And during the panel’s first meeting late last year, Frankel said that state-run stores are “certainly an option” he’s considering for Pennsylvania, similar to what New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (R) recommended for that state last year, though a state commission later shied away from that plan.

Last year, Shapiro signed a bill to allow all licensed medical marijuana grower-processors in the state to sell their cannabis products directly to patients.

Separately, Pennsylvania’s prior governor separately signed a bill into law in July 2022 that included provisions to protect banks and insurers in the state that work with licensed medical marijuana businesses.

Meanwhile, Pennsylvania lawmakers are separately advancing legislation to correct an omission in a law that unintentionally excluded dispensaries from state-level tax relief for the medical marijuana industry.

About three months after the legislature approved a budget bill that the governor signed containing tax reform provisions as a partial workaround to a federal ban on tax deductions for cannabis businesses, the House Finance Committee approved two versions of the measure that are now pending final floor action.

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Photo courtesy of Brian Shamblen.