Pennsylvania Senate Approves Non-Smoke Cannabis

The Pennsylvania senate has currently approved a bill allowing some forms of cannabis to be legal for medicinal use in certain cases. Although the bill likely will not be approved by the House of Representatives or the Governor, this is still a big step for a state that has been known for its conservative policies towards the plant over the past decade. 

The catch with this bill is that only edibles, oil, and vaporization would be legally permissible as medicating; smoking the flower would still be illegal. Daylin Leach, a senator from Philadelphia and a liberal Democrat, is behind the new legislation, and has managed to get 20 out of 27 of his fellow senators to sign on for support. This is enough to pass the bill on to the next stages in the legislation process. 

“It is cruel and heartless to deny people the best medicine that is available,” said Leach while discussing the bill on the floor. “And it’s time to stop treating this irrationally and saying, ‘we’re not going to let you have this, we’re going to instead make you take far more dangerous and less effective drugs.’ That’s just not how we would want to be treated; it’s not how we want our families to be treated.”

Although this bodes well for the changing tide of opinion in Pennsylvania, the governor is still in opposition to this and laws like it, stating, “The governor is opposed to the legalization of marijuana for either purpose: recreational or medicinal.” Still, if the law gains enough footing in the House and laws like it keep getting approved through both avenues, the governor will eventually have to take notice and begin weighing his options.