In a May 11 tweet, Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto said he supports Pennsylvania legalizing recreational marijuana. Peduto tweeted that he backs the drive being led by Pennsylvania Auditor General Eugene DePasquale, who thinks the General Assembly should pass a bill that would regulate and tax recreational marijuana in the Commonwealth.
“I fully support Auditor General DePasquale’s Plan to legalize/regulate/tax marijuana in Pennsylvania. More importantly, so do a majority of Pennsylvanians,” Peduto tweeted while linking a tweet from DePasquale.
A September 2017 poll from Franklin & Marshall College says that 59 percent of Pennsylvanians support fully legalizing marijuana. DePaquale told City Paper in September 2017, “It is time to regulate and tax [marijuana]. It will be better for the people of Pennsylvania. It will generate tax revenue, it will actually help create jobs, and it will save law enforcement time in trying to prosecute people who are not a threat to society.” DePasquale and his office also believe that recreational marijuana could bring in about $325 million in revenue to the state.
Peduto has long been a supporter of legalizing medical marijuana, which Pennsylvanian patients have had access to since earlier this year. He also signed a bill in December 2015 to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana possession in Pittsburgh. He joins Pennsylvania politicians like DePasquale, Braddock Mayor and Lt. Gov. candidate John Fetterman, and Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney in calling for the state legalize recreational marijuana.
If Pennsylvania were to legalize recreational marijuana, it would join nine other states and Washington, D.C. in doing so. Pennsylvania would also be the largest state east of the Mississippi to legalize marijuana, and the second largest in the nation behind California.
This article appears in May 9-15, 2018.
Those who believe in limited government, personal responsibility, free markets, and individual liberty should embrace the ending of this irrational, un-American cannabis prohibition. It should be the cornerstone of current GOP policy.
About half of the U.S. population has tried cannabis, at least 15% use it regularly, over 80% of high school seniors have reported cannabis “easy to get” for decades. Those who really want to use cannabis heavily already are. Prohibition does little or nothing to prevent problematic use. In many cases prohibition makes cannabis usage problematic where it would not have been otherwise, be it light, moderate, or heavy usage. For the most part, cannabis prohibition only successfully prohibits effective regulation.
A few issues created by prohibition: there are no quality controls to reduce contaminants (harmful pesticides, molds, fungus, other drugs), there is no practical way to prevent regular underage sales, billions in tax revenue are lost which can be used for all substance abuse treatment, underground markets for all drugs are empowered as a far more popular substance is placed within them expanding their reach and increasing their profits, criminal records make pursuing many decent careers difficult, police and court resources are unnecessarily tied up by pursuing and prosecuting victimless ‘crimes’, public mistrust and disrespect for our legal system, police, and government is increased, which can be devastating to our country.
Prohibition is also very expensive, though, a cash cow for a number of powerful groups such as those related to law enforcement and the prison industry. These organizations have powerful lobbies and influence that perpetuate a failed drug policy through ignorance, fear, disinformation and misinformation. This ensures an endless supply of lucrative contracts and grants from the government and its taxpayers to support their salaries, tools of the trade, and other expenses. Cash, property and other assets from civil forfeiture laws also significantly fatten their coffers while often violating civil rights.
America was built on the principles of freedom and liberty. In some cases there are extreme circumstances that warrant intervention with criminal law. In the case of mind-altering drugs we have already set this precedent with alcohol. Cannabis is less harmful than alcohol to the consumer and especially to others. If we are to have justice, then the penalties for using, possessing and selling cannabis should be no worse than those of alcohol.
error in penultimate paragraph: “He also singed a bill in December 2015 to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana position in Pittsburgh.” should be “marijuana possession”
also an error in the last paragraph: “If Pennsylvanian were to legalize recreational marijuana,” should be Pennsylvania..
does anyone proofread???
#AlcoholKills #MarijuanaHeals
Did he singe that bill with a lit joint, perhaps?