(*19*)
Jordana Rosenfeld
According to a modern report by a marijuana policy project titled “Back in the Day: 19 States Where a Joint Can Still Put You in Jail.”
Despite record levels of public support for legalization and the fact that the state’s larger municipalities, such as Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, have already passed measures to decriminalize cannabis possession, “there is an abundance of cannabis arrests occurring in Pennsylvania,” the organization’s senior director said. DeVaughn Ward.
At the state level, lawmakers “haven’t quite addressed it [decriminalization]and the federal government has not fully addressed it,” House Majority Whip Jordan Harris, D-Philadelphia, said during a news conference Tuesday. “Let’s be clear,” Harris continued, “in Pennsylvania, alcohol is sold by the government. We are selling this product, we are selling this substance that we know is more harmful than marijuana.
According to the report, under current law in Pennsylvania, possession of up to 30 grams of cannabis (just over an ounce) is punishable by up to 30 days in prison and/or a fine of up to $500.
“Black Pennsylvanians are three times more likely to be arrested for cannabis possession than white residents of the state,” the report notes.
Earlier this year, the state Senate held a Commonwealth hearing first auditions regarding the legalization of marijuana for adults.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Mike Regan, R-York, a former U.S. Marshal, presented the arguments for the legalization bill he is preparing with Rep. Amen Brown of Philadelphia.
Sen. Dan Laughlin, R-Erie, is also sponsoring a legalization bill. Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf has been calling for legalization for several years. Pittsburgh lawmakers have also introduced legislation to legalize cannabis.
In 2020, former state representative and current chief of staff to Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey Jake Wheatley and state representative Dan Frankel (D-Squirrel Hill) announced the bill would not only legalize marijuana, but also expunge the records of people accused of non-violent cannabis-related crimes.
The report’s release coincides with the 50th anniversary of the first report of the federal Shafer Commission, which in 1972 surprisingly argued that possession of diminutive amounts of marijuana should be decriminalized. Supporters of legalization of cannabis call Shafer report “perhaps the most important step” to catalyze the progress of the last 50 years toward the decriminalization and/or legalization of cannabis.”
Cannabis prohibition failed, MPP did he argued and the group has called for the legalization of cannabis nationwide, although it acknowledges that the most likely way to achieve that goal is through state governments.
