Karen O’Keefe: It’s time for a sensible approach to cannabis in Pennsylvania

While 54 percent of Americans live in legal cannabis states, Pennsylvania unfortunately lags behind. It is one of only nineteen states where adults can be incarcerated simply for possessing cannabis. Instead of perpetuating a failed policy that ruins lives and drains state resources, Pennsylvania should seize the opportunity of cannabis legalization in order to help grow the economy, increase freedom, and promote health and safety.

Five of Pennsylvania’s six neighboring states have already embraced legalization and are reaping significant financial rewards. Michigan, despite having a smaller population than Pennsylvania, generated a staggering $520 million in adult-use cannabis excise and sales tax revenue in 2024 alone. Pennsylvania is forfeiting potential revenue by clinging to outdated prohibitionist policies, effectively sending millions of dollars across state lines to bolster the coffers of its neighbors. At the same time, federal funds for Pennsylvania have become unpredictable, and the economy has begun a downturn. Legalization in Pennsylvania would generate hundreds of millions in new tax revenue each year to support residents’ well-being. 

In addition to generating a new revenue stream for the state, the cannabis industry itself is a significant job creator. Legalization in Pennsylvania is projected to generate over 30,000 new jobs, providing much-needed employment opportunities for state residents across various sectors, from cultivation and processing to retail and distribution. 

Beyond the economic benefits, the continuation of cannabis prohibition in Pennsylvania carries significant social costs. The state currently arrests over 11,000 individuals annually for cannabis-related offenses, a figure that represents a considerable drain on limited law enforcement resources that could be far better allocated to addressing more serious crimes that directly impact the safety and well-being of Pennsylvanians. 

Cannabis-related arrests and convictions can have devastating and long-lasting consequences, leading to job loss, housing insecurity, and the foreclosure of career paths, even years after sentences are completed. Furthermore, the enforcement of cannabis laws disproportionately affects minority communities. ACLU analysis reveals that Black individuals in Pennsylvania are three times more likely to be arrested for cannabis possession than their white counterparts, despite similar rates of use. It is illogical and unjust to criminalize adults for possessing a substance demonstrably less harmful than alcohol.

Finally, legalization offers a pathway to regulation and control. On the other hand, the illicit cannabis market operates without any oversight, leaving consumers vulnerable to contaminated products containing molds, dangerous pesticides, heavy metals, and even lethal substances like fentanyl. With legalization comes sensible regulations that prioritize public health and safety, including mandatory ID checks to prevent underage sales, rigorous lab testing to ensure product safety and potency, bans on harmful pesticides and additives, and the requirement of child-proof packaging. 

By embracing a sensible regulatory framework for adult-use cannabis, Pennsylvania stands to cultivate significant economic growth, rectify social injustices stemming from prohibition, and ensure a safer, more controlled market for its citizens. However, Pennsylvania lacks a citizen initiative process, so the only path to legalization runs through the Legislature. A majority of Pennsylvanians agree that legalization is the better approach, and it’s time for legislators to work together to get legalization done this year.

Karen O’Keefe is the Director of State Policies at the Marijuana Policy Project

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8 thoughts on “Karen O’Keefe: It’s time for a sensible approach to cannabis in Pennsylvania”

  1. Legalize federally now. What’s legal to possess and consume in over half of the populated areas of The United States should not make you a criminal in states still being governed by woefully ignorant prohibitionist politicians. Cannabis consumers in all states deserve and demand equal rights and protections under our laws that are currently afforded to the drinkers of far more dangerous and deadly, yet perfectly legal, widely accepted, endlessly advertised and even glorified as an All-American pastime, alcohol. Plain and simple! Legalize Nationwide Federally Now!

  2. It is very premature to equate cannabis use with a “no problem” scenario governing long term use. Example would be where a long-term use physician is going to perform open heart surgery. Since some research has shown cannabis residuals as far out as 30 days and other research shows there may be changes to neural pathways, much more research needs to be done on both short- and long-term use of cannabis as a recreational substance. I personally find it morally reprehensible to promote cannabis use as a means of funding government programs (I also feel the same about casinos and other forms of feeding gambling addition for government programs, not to mention state sales of alcohol). As far as a comparison with alcohol, it is a somewhat disingenuous comparison, but listing the bad aspects of alcohol (some of which can also be attributed to cannabis use) is a great advertisement for banning alcohol. cannabis and tobacco and vaping.

    1. Fear of Cannabis Legalization Nationwide is unfounded. Not based on any science or fact whatsoever. So please prohibitionists, we beg you to give your scare tactics, “Conspiracy Theories” and “Doomsday Scenarios” over the inevitable Legalization of Cannabis Nationwide a rest. Nobody is buying them anymore these days. Okay?

      Furthermore, if all prohibitionists get when they look into that nice, big and shiny crystal ball of theirs, while wondering about the future of cannabis legalization, is horror, doom, and despair, well then I suggest they return that thing as quickly as possible and reclaim the money they shelled out for it, since it’s obviously defective.

      The prohibition of cannabis has not decreased the supply nor the demand for cannabis at all. Not one single iota, and it never will. Just a huge and complete waste of our tax dollars to continue criminalizing citizens for choosing a natural, non-toxic, relatively benign plant proven to be much safer than alcohol.

      If prohibitionists are going to take it upon themselves to worry about “saving us all” from ourselves, then they need to start with the drug that causes more death and destruction than every other drug in the world COMBINED, which is alcohol!

      Why do prohibitionists feel the continued need to vilify and demonize cannabis when they could more wisely focus their efforts on a real, proven killer, alcohol, which again causes more destruction, violence, and death than all other drugs, COMBINED?

      Prohibitionists really should get their priorities straight and/or practice a little live and let live. They’ll live longer, happier, and healthier, with a lot less stress if they refrain from being bent on trying to control others through Draconian Cannabis Laws.

      “Despite the US government’s nearly century-long prohibition of the plant, cannabis is nonetheless one of the most investigated therapeutically active substances in history. To date, there are over 20,000 published studies or reviews in the scientific literature referencing the cannabis plant and its cannabinoids, nearly half of which were published within the last five years according to a keyword search on PubMed Central, the US government repository for peer-reviewed scientific research. Over 1,450 peer-reviewed papers were published in 2013 alone. (By contrast, a keyword search of “hydrocodone,” a commonly prescribed painkiller, yields just over 600 total references in the entire body of available scientific literature.)”

      “[A] federal policy that prohibits physicians from alleviating suffering by prescribing marijuana for seriously ill patients is misguided, heavy-handed, and inhumane.” — Dr. Jerome Kassirer, “Federal Foolishness and Marijuana,” editorial, New England Journal of Medicine, January 30, 1997

      “[M]arijuana has an extremely wide acute margin of safety for use under medical supervision and cannot cause lethal reactions … [G]reater harm is caused by the legal consequences of its prohibition than possible risks of medicinal use.” — American Public Health Association, Resolution #9513, “Access to Therapeutic Marijuana/Cannabis,” 1995

      “When appropriately prescribed and monitored, marijuana/cannabis can provide immeasurable benefits for the health and well-being of our patients … We support state and federal legislation not only to remove criminal penalties associated with medical marijuana, but further to exclude marijuana/cannabis from classification as a Schedule I drug.” — American Academy of HIV Medicine, letter to New York Assemblyman Richard Gottfried, November 11, 2003

      “The National Nurses Society on Addictions urges the federal government to remove marijuana from the Schedule I category immediately, and make it available for physicians to prescribe. NNSA urges the American Nurses’ Association and other health care professional organizations to support patient access to this medicine.” — National Nurses Society on Addictions, May 1, 1995

      “[The AAFP accepts the use of medical marijuana] under medical supervision and control for specific medical indications.” — American Academy of Family Physicians, 1989, reaffirmed in 2001

      “[We] recommend … allow[ing] [marijuana] prescription where medically appropriate.” — National Association for Public Health Policy, November 15, 1998

      “Therefore be it resolved that the American Nurses Association will: — Support the right of patients to have safe access to therapeutic marijuana/cannabis under appropriate prescriber supervision.” — American Nurses Association, resolution, 2003

      “Cannabis is 114 times safer than drinking alcohol”

      “Cannabis may be even safer than previously thought, researchers say”

      “Cannabis may be even safer than previously thought, researchers say New study: We should stop fighting Cannabis legalization and focus on alcohol and tobacco instead By Christopher Ingraham February 23

      Compared with other recreational drugs — including alcohol — Cannabis may be even safer than previously thought. And researchers may be systematically underestimating risks associated with alcohol use.

      Those are the top-line findings of recent research published in the journal Scientific Reports, a subsidiary of Nature. Researchers sought to quantify the risk of death associated with the use of a variety of commonly used substances. They found that at the level of individual use, alcohol was the deadliest substance, followed by heroin and cocaine.”
      -Washington Post

      “The report discovered that Cannabis is 114 times less deadly than alcohol. Researchers were able to determine this by comparing the lethal doses with the amount of typical use. Through this approach, Cannabis had the lowest mortality risk to users out of all the drugs they studied. In fact—because the numbers were crossed with typical daily use—Cannabis is the only drug that tested as “low risk.”
      -Complex

  3. Another “innocent” pretending they have good intentions, promoting the fanciful notion that Pennsylvania should peddle cannabis to fill its coffers, as if government should play pimp to vice, collect tax on it, and call it progress. Legalizing this drug, less harmful than alcohol or not, is a slippery slope to normalizing harmful behavior, potentially winking at children that such indulgences are state-sanctioned virtues. This article’s rosy projection of millions in tax revenue and jobs reeks of short-term greed, ignoring the long-term social decay fostered by a government that profits from its citizens’ weaknesses. Trading prison cells for a regulated haze of cannabis fumes hardly rectifies injustice; it merely swaps one form of control for another, with the state as the dealer. Pennsylvania’s sober citizens should demand their lawmakers reject this tyrannical temptation to monetize vice and instead uphold policies that strengthen, not sedate, the moral fiber of its people. What a disgraceful and shameful article!

    1. What we certainly don’t need are anymore people who feel justified in appointing themselves to be self-deputized morality police.

      We are very capable of choosing for ourselves if we want to consume cannabis, a far less dangerous choice over alcohol, and we definitely don’t need anyone dictating how we should live our own lives.

      We can’t just lock up everyone who does things prohibitionists don’t personally approve of.

      1. Brian Kelly –
        You made an excellent point about personal freedom and rejecting overreach—no one wants a “morality police” dictating choices. But legalization isn’t just about individual rights; it impacts society… especially our children. And there seem to be a lot of adults that are not too concerned about our children – who do not realize they need protection.
        Studies from states like Colorado show increased teen marijuana use after legalization, with risks to brain development and mental health (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4308295/.)
        These false promises of millions in tax revenue often fall short—look at the state of Washington, where tax revenue underperformed initial projections. The government profiting off a drug while normalizing it for children is a risky and evil trade-off. This isn’t freedom; it’s a false hope that absolutely will harm our communities. Take a deep breath (not in Philadelphia where the air is already chock full of the stank of marijuana) and ask yourself: what is actually your role in this discussion and your motivation regarding this issue? I wonder.

  4. Michael, I wonder why little to no articles are written describing what happened to recreational cannabis use in California, Oregon, Washington and Colorado and brought into the Pennsylvania debate. Oregon is particularly a good study: recreational use of cannabis along with other self-serving rationales) was used to remove controls on hard drugs. That worked out so well that they saw huge increases in drug overdoses and drug-related crime to the point where they are repealing laws allowing hard drug use. Interestingly. in all the named states the money end has been a disappointment, especially when measured against the unicorn and rainbow claims made for revenue.

  5. I want to respond to the almost hysterical descriptions of cannabis as a safe, soft as rainwater substance. First, I am not advocating prohibition, we all know what happened then and can see what has and is happening with attempts to control cannabis use by law and enforcement. Not very successful. What I want to see is some actual Scientific studies on the physical and mental effects of cannabis on which to develop sound sales and use policies. That means studies by legit research facilities and not “sort of” studies by advocacy groups. In Viet Nam I experienced first-hand what a buzz can do, two guys in a combat situation buzzed up, walking around, laughing and yelling, out of control. Don’t tell me that cannabis use cannot be dangerous in some circumstances, (that is like peeing on my leg and telling me it’s raining), most worrisome now, DRIVING WHILE BUZZED.

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