Dan Bartkowiak: Getting stuff wrong — Why Pennsylvania must reject Gov. Shapiro’s push for marijuana legalization

It’s terrifying to arrive home and be greeted by the smell of gas. My family and I returned from church one Sunday when, as I approached the front door, I was hit with the unmistakable rotten-egg odor. I immediately called for help, and thankfully, an emergency worker located the source and contained the leak before catastrophe struck.

Another potent smell has become all too common on city sidewalks and street corners, particularly in states experimenting with recreational marijuana sales. Anyone I know who has recently visited New York City says the same thing: the skunk smell of marijuana is everywhere.

Marijuana use is more than a nuisance. It is a growing public problem that communities can no longer ignore. Just as a gas leak demands swift action, this crisis calls for serious intervention, not merely because of the smell, but because of the health and safety consequences that follow once an addictive drug is commercialized and normalized.

The Crisis of Marijuana Commercialization

Marijuana is America’s most misunderstood drug. How else can we explain that marijuana use among pregnant women has tripled over the past two decades? Nearly one in six women now report using marijuana during pregnancy, despite clear evidence of harm and warnings from major medical organizations.

This trend is shocking, but also predictable. The marijuana industry has flourished in an environment that encourages genetically engineered, super-charged products to be marketed as medicine, portrayed as harmless, and promoted for nearly any ailment.

Many still view marijuana through an outdated lens, recalling low-potency use decades ago. Today, in large part the result of policy liberalization, dried flower marijuana can exceed 40 percent THC, while concentrates approach near-pure THC levels — an entirely unnatural and dangerous escalation.

There is nothing harmless about today’s marijuana, and the parallels to Big Tobacco are impossible to ignore. In the 1950s, tobacco companies marketed smoking as safe, even during pregnancy. Philip Morris ran the slogan “Born gentle,” implying that smoking enhanced the “pride of a new parent.” It took decades and countless deaths before the truth became undeniable.

The marijuana industry now follows the same playbook. Studies show dispensaries encouraging marijuana use during pregnancy to relieve morning sickness. “Born gentle” has simply been rebranded for the THC era, with babies and families once again paying the price.

The harm does not stop there. I recently visited a marijuana dispensary attached to a gas station in New York State. One room sold ordinary candy and cookies; the next sold THC-infused versions of the same products.

The counter resembled a church bake sale — Rice Krispies treats, brownies, peanut butter blossoms — each containing up to 400 milligrams of THC. That amount can induce psychosis and cause serious injury. For a child, it would almost certainly result in an emergency room visit.

The industry insists it does not market to children, yet sells THC-laced gummies and desserts mimicking familiar treats. Trulieve, a company that operates in PA and spent more than $100 million on a failed initiative in Florida pushing recreational use, offers flavored concentrates like Raspberry Rain, Lemon Scoop, and Mac and Cheese, with THC in the high 80 percent range.

These products are here in Pennsylvania under the label of “medical” marijuana.

Pennsylvania’s Problems

Increasing potency combined with lax oversight has led to more use by adults and children nationwide. Here in PA, the marijuana industry is pouring millions into lobbying efforts for full recreational legalization in hopes of cashing in on their addiction-for-profit scheme.

Governor Josh Shapiro has embraced this agenda to turn Pennsylvania into the Keystoned State. In 2019, he reversed his position from opposing to supporting commercialization, despite opposition from major health organizations and law enforcement groups. 

In his recent budget remarks, Shapiro claims “everyone knows we need to get this done.” Yet notably absent from that conversation are addiction physicians, emergency room doctors, psychiatrists, pediatric specialists, and parents of children with marijuana use disorders, many of whom have warned that commercialization increases addiction and mental disorders like psychosis. When the medical community is sidelined, the policy is already compromised.

Everyone does not want to have their community forced to allow pot shops selling high-potency THC, regardless of local opposition. Yet that’s what the current proposals would do, prioritizing corporate profit over public health and safety.

This push is especially troubling given the governor’s repeated claim that nothing is more important than investing in children and expanding mental health care. How does expanding access to high-octane THC accomplish that?

In the same speech calling for more school-based mental health services, Governor Shapiro argued the state should rely on marijuana tax revenue — meaning increased use of an addictive substance. You cannot meaningfully address youth anxiety, psychosis, and addiction while expanding access to a product proven to worsen those conditions. Funding counselors to clean up damage caused by state-sanctioned drug sales is not compassion; it is policy malpractice.

Schools across Pennsylvania consistently report student mental health as their greatest challenge. Marijuana use disorders are on the rise, and we know that states with legalized recreational use have seen increases in emergency room visits, impaired driving, workplace drug positivity, and heavy addictive use.

We also must recognize that problems extend beyond recreational proposals. In 2019, anxiety disorders were added as a qualifying condition for marijuana use in Pennsylvania’s medical program. Our state’s unelected medical advisory board passed it by a 5-3 narrow vote, with non-medical professionals voting to put it through despite no substantial evidence and expert objections. Anxiety now accounts for the majority of marijuana certifications in the state.

High-volume “card mills” (doctors who simply write prescriptions — some by the hundreds or thousands) and widespread high-potency products in medical dispensaries resemble recreational use more than legitimate medicine. Additionally, intoxicating hemp-derived THC products exploit federal loopholes and flood gas stations and convenience stores, which is why Pennsylvania should align with federal regulation to ban them from the open market.

As The Wall Street Journal has asked amid rising traffic fatalities and public health harms: how much damage must be done before we reverse course?

It is also worth noting that Trulieve CEO Kim Rivers is a campaign donor to Governor Shapiro, raising legitimate questions about influence in Pennsylvania’s marijuana policy debate.

Getting This Right

Governor Shapiro claims his budget does not raise taxes, while pushing marijuana legalization to generate speculative revenue. Attempting to fund the government through addiction is simply a regressive tax by another name—one that falls hardest on struggling families and those most vulnerable to substance abuse.

Thus far, the Democrat-controlled Pennsylvania House and Governor Shapiro are driving reckless marijuana policies, while the Republican-controlled Senate has put on the brakes.

No, Governor Shapiro — simply “getting stuff done” is not the way forward. Getting the wrong things done — commercializing addiction, normalizing high-potency drugs, and financing government on human harm — is not progress. Pennsylvania deserves policies rooted in public health and the common good, not ones that leave our Commonwealth smelling like weed.

Dan Bartkowiak is the Chief Strategy Officer for Pennsylvania Family Institute.